


Crystal

by ApplePi



Category: D.Gray-man
Genre: Alternate Universe, Eye Trauma, M/M, Soulmates, Urban Fantasy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-10
Updated: 2018-09-10
Packaged: 2019-07-10 12:07:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 32,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15949028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ApplePi/pseuds/ApplePi
Summary: In a world where magic is on the decline, apprentice mage Allen Walker fears the worst when his teacher vanishes with nothing more than a mysterious note and a pool of dried blood left behind. He embarks on a cross country adventure in the hopes of finding his teacher, but instead discovers ever deepening mystery and danger along the way instead. Just who kidnapped Cross?





	Crystal

**Author's Note:**

> Hi!!! This is my big bang 2018 fic! I went a little off the rails with it, and I can't believe it's finally done! my artist will be posting soon, and I'll edit this notes to put the links to her artwork in as soon as it's up!

 

There is a little bit of magic left in the world, they say. Once the world was vibrant and full of it. There were incredible sorcerers who calmed raging seas and who built towers that reached into the sky. Stories of noble men and women who used their gifts for justice and fearlessly lead people into peace.

That was a long time ago.

People of any magical ability had long since become exceedingly rare. The last vestige of magic left in the world clung to people in small ways, mostly. It built quiet bonds, letting two souls brush against each other just long enough to leave a mark before sending them out into the world. A name was usually all it was; a simple name printed on the skin somewhere.

Allen had never found a name on his skin, yet had wound up with a gift for magical arts. It seemed right, somehow. Perhaps it was for the best, even. People became so distracted by the letters that graced their skin, by who that person was, and where they were, and what they were thinking. Allen’s mind had always needed to be full of other things.

He almost found it funny how people would tell him things like “Oh don’t worry, sometimes they show up later” or “maybe your pair just isn’t born yet” as if he must care that there was nothing on him. He found himself just smiling and nodding when people said that; smiling and nodding and turning the conversation to some other topic. He’d grit his teeth and politely bear the torture of it.

“Oh, Cross,” the woman cooed, putting a hand on Allen’s arm as she looked at his master, “Your apprentice has grown so much since you were last here!”

“I hadn’t noticed,” Cross said with a sweet smile, “I was far too busy counting the days until I could see you again.”

The woman laughed softly, batting her eyelashes as Allen rolled his eyes up towards the ceiling. He was starting to wonder why Cross had bothered to bring him to the meeting, and it had only just begun.

“Such a charmer, as always. Please have a seat, both of you.” She gestured to the chairs that sat across from an ornate desk. They sat as directed and the middle aged woman sauntered around the desk, sitting neatly behind it and lacing her fingers together.

“I appreciate you seeing us on such short notice, Sarafina.” Cross started and the woman lifted one hand to halt his words.

“The pleasure is mine, Cross, but why don’t we talk business.” her hazel eyes glinted as she spoke.

Cross chuckled and glanced at Allen, “Alright, my apprentice and I have, as you know, been doing research into the historic magical technology of the region to great success.”

“Mn…” Allen tried not to fidget with his shirt cuffs as Cross spoke.

“However, we find ourselves restricted in what we can accomplish…”

“Due to funds.” Sarafina finished.

“Ah, your insight in unmatched, my dear.”

“I appreciate that, thank you. If I might ask, what benefit would I receive from this…. Research you like to do?”

“Young Allen and I have been developing techniques to store spells inside of an inanimate object and allow anyone to use it. Certainly, should you fund us, you would get access to our findings.”

Allen glanced at Cross out of the corner of his eye, incredulous.

“Exclusive access?”

“But of course. For a time that is proportionate to the contribution you make to our research.”

Sarafina leaned back in her chair, smiling pleasantly. The clock on her desk ticked loudly in the quiet that had settled in the room as she considered that.

“I believe we can make an agreement.” She said after a few moments. Cross smiled.

The afternoon seemed to drag on for hours as they negotiated. Allen felt as if his brain could have dripped out of his ears and the two wouldn’t have noticed him. They were too engaged in their own waltz of words to have paid him any attention.

Finally, Sarafina leaned back in her chair once more and glanced at the stately clock beside her, “Well, I think we’ve more than come to an agreement.”

“It would seem so.”

She stood and looked at the neat pile of papers they had both signed, “I’ll see you to the door.”

It wasn’t until the door had clicked behind them and they were four blocks away that Cross finally relaxed the tenseness in his shoulders and pulled out his cigarette case. Allen gave him a sidelong glance that he ignored and he snapped his fingers to light the end of his cigarette with a pop of magic. He took a long drag, and exhaled slowly.

“Didn’t think that was going to go so well.” He said, finally. His voice was dripping with self congratulations and Allen rolled his eyes for what felt like the thousandth time that day.

“I never expected you to be so professional.”

Cross’ sharp glance made Allen smile, “What’s that supposed to mean, brat?”

“You heard me. You kept the flirting to a minimum. I’m impressed, almost.” Allen said, amused. Cross scoffed and cuffed the back of his apprentice’s head lightly.

“I am a respected scientist and researcher, idiot. I know how to get funding. How did you think I paid for all the very expensive equipment I have?”

“Well I presumed you moonlighted as a prostitute but--” Allen was already dodging Cross’s swatting hand with a wicked smile on his face.

“Keep your mouth shut, boy. You’re not so old that I can’t wallop you.”

Allen smiled, taking his hand out of his pocket to adjust his necktie, “I suppose that’s true.”

“You’re damn right it is. After you drop off your things, go buy us dinner. I want to go out tonight to celebrate.”

“Ah, of course.”

There was a silence as Cross considered something, “How old are you now? Sixteen?”

“Twenty one.” Allen corrected, checking his wallet for the meticulously counted money he’d put it in this morning.

“That old already, huh? I guess you’re coming with me tonight.”

Allen sputtered, nearly dropping his wallet, “Excuse me?”

“You’re a man now. One without a mark. You of all people should learn to live a little.”

“I live plenty, thanks.” Cross must have heard the rueful note in Allen’s voice, but he didn’t say anything about it. He took another drag of his cigarette.

“It’s cute you think that you have a choice in the matter.”

“Why do you even want to bring me?”

“You’re twenty one years old and you’ve only got some book learning to show for it.”

Allen pursed his lips but decided to not say anything, tucking his wallet back into his coat pocket. Cross glanced at him as they walked towards the house Cross had chosen to do his research in. The building itself wasn’t impressive. Simple, classic, perhaps a touch more nondescript than anything else. Allen had been shocked when Cross had showed it to him for the first time. Cross was a man who liked garnishes.

“Master Cross?” Allen said, turning his question over in his mind. It was easier to change the subject than to worry about Cross dragging him out to some seedy bar.

“What.”

“Why did you lie to Sarafina?”

Cross looked back at him from the door to where Allen was walking up the steps. He considered the question, not holding the door for Allen as he slipped in after him.

“If we can make something to store spells… there’s no way to be sure that someone other than the mage who casted it could use it,” Allen prompted as he swapped his little business case for his satchel, “you know that.”

“Obviously I know that, brat. It’s not my fault she didn’t do her homework before agreeing to anything.”

“So… what will she get in return?”

“Nothing more than a way to have her current mage work a little easier.”

“Is that fair?”

“Does it matter? People do unfair things all the time. In life you have to paint shit gold to get what you need to do what you need to do sometimes. She’s unlucky enough to get a golden shit. Not my problem. She’ll get her edge and that will just have to be good enough for her.”

Allen sighed, “Why do I feel like you’ve picked up another debt collector that I’ll be dealing with soon enough?”

“Just go and get dinner, idiot.”

Allen signed and stepped back out of the house, grateful for some time to himself. Spring was just getting its legs and the cool breeze that floated down the street tossed his hair around as he locked the door.

He pulled his hood up and started towards the pizzeria he frequented. He had the feeling Cross would complain about something so ordinary, but Allen didn’t care. The sun was setting before him, casting the world in a sleepy reddish glow. It was peaceful, for once.

The thought made him squint suspiciously, casting his eyes around him as if he’d spot some unknown assailant waiting for him. To his relief, only a teenager walking her dog prowled the streets, but still a seed of uneasiness had sprouted in his belly.

Peachie’s Pizza was a local institution. Allen could tell the moment he’d stepped inside if for the first time that it would be his favourite place to get food. The bells on the door chimed as he walked in, and Peachie herself-- an old Italian woman with a soft, round face and a cloud of stark white hair-- lifted her eyes to the door and smiled at him.

“Ah, young Allen. The usual this evening?” She asked, as Allen pushed off his hood and kicked the dirt off his dress shoes.

“Yes, please.”

He leaned against the counter like he always did, idly rubbing his left forearm as it itched under his shirt. The wounds there were old, acting up with the seasons change. Allen paid it no mind as he paid for his pizzas and made his way back into the brisk spring evening. He frowned a bit, feeling as if something were wrong, somehow, but didn’t know where to place the feeling.

He made his way back to the house and let himself in, kicking off his shoes, “I’m back!” he called, walking into the kitchen. Cross’ footsteps thumped up the basement stairs and he frowned as he walked into the kitchen as well.

“Pizza? Really?”

Allen smiled sweetly and offered Cross a plate with three slices on it. The older man took it with a grumble and they leaned against the counter together, eating in silence. Cross shot him a sidelong glance but said nothing for a long while.

“Something happen?”

“No?” Allen shoved another slice of pizza into his mouth, making cross wrinkle his nose.

“You seem different.”

Allen raised an eyebrow, “Different?”

“Whatever. Clean up.” Cross shrugged his shoulders, putting the plate on the counter.

\---

Allen found himself sitting in a club, nursing a drink and a headache as Crossed danced in the middle of the dance floor. Allen wondered what it was like to have so much charisma and charm, smiling into the clear liquid in his glass ruefully. It was probably for the best he didn’t have much of either. He’d never had much luck hanging onto anyone but Cross, and whether that was good or not was still up for debate.

Someone slid into the seat beside him and Allen jumped, turning to look at man who flashed him an easy grin.

“Hey, do me a favour?” He put his hand on the seat and leaned in. His voice was a conspiratory whisper, but Allen somehow heard it over the thrum of music.

“A favour?”

“I’ve got a real prick tailing me.” The man picked up a hat from the table-- Cross must have been dancing with the owner of it-- and plopped it on his own head.

“Is this going to get me into some kind of trouble?” Allen asked immediately, brows furrowing. The man slid his arm over the back of the booth, just a few centimeters away from resting directly on Allen’s shoulder.

Allen turned away to pick up his glass, nearly bumping noses with the man as he looked back again. He seemed to just grin at Allen’s surprise.

“No, no, I just want to sit here like this for a little bit. You in?” The man’s green eyes twinkled from under the hat, even in the dim flashes of light in the club. Allen found himself staring into them and blinking like a fool.

“Um… okay.” Allen’s mouth said before his mind could process. His left arm tingled a bit and he rubbed it absently, trying to tear his eyes away from the strangers.

“Thanks! You’re a real lifesaver.”

“Is there a particular reason you need to sit this close though?” Allen’s sense of personal space was bigger than most, but he found he didn’t mind this, somehow.

“Usually it kinda looks like we’re kissing from behind,” The way he said it was so casual, Allen almost didn’t even process it.

“What?” mortification pulsed through Allen’s face like a crashing wave.

“People are way less likely to bother a couple of lovebirds than they are to find a single person,” The stranger’s free hand came up and cupped Allen’s face, kickstarting Allen’s heart and freezing his mind. He was so warm to the touch; as if a fire thrummed just under his skin. Allen’s eyes fluttered briefly as he leaned ever so slightly into the palm.

The stranger looked a little confused and opened his mouth to say something when a “there he is!” sent him scrambling over Allen and bolting for the back door.

He took the hat with him, Allen dimly noted as he sat there, watching two guys chase after the man, vanishing through the back door as well. Cross must have peeled away from his companions at the commotion and made his way over to the table, snapping his fingers in front of Allen’s face to draw his attention.

“Wake up, moron. What just happened?”

“I honestly have no idea,” Allen said. His voice sounded more bewildered than he’d ever heard it before and Cross looked at the door again, “well, I think your friend’s hat just got stolen.”

“What? Ugh.” Cross sighed, glancing over his shoulder, “Whatever. I’m getting tired of this place anyway.”

Allen wasn’t sure what to make of the feeling that settled itself into his chest as Cross all but dragged him to an idling cab. They got in and settled in for the ride, silent and contemplative.

The house was a little cold when they got in. Allen pulled his jacket off and glanced at Cross who had started for the stairs. He stopped at the bottom and looked over his shoulder, annoyed.

“Put the dishes away.”

Allen sighed and moved towards the kitchen, laying his coat over the back of his chair. It was late and he was tired after sulking in the club for hours, but he didn’t want to wake up to a Cross who had discovered a dishwasher still full of dishes.

He’d only just picked up a cup when fire shot up his arm and he gasped, hearing the crash of glass hitting the floor as he clutched his left arm. It had been sensitive to magic ever since his accident, but this was like nothing he’d ever felt. He slammed his back into the fridge, eyes darting around wildly to find the source of what was causing him so much pain but came up empty. He squeeze his eyes closed, focusing on fighting the magic down.

Rough hands grabbed him and forced him to sit and Cross filled his vision as his eyes snapped open. His head swam a bit as Cross looked him over.

“What happened? What’s wrong?” He demanded.

“Its…” Allen struggled to find his voice, throat clenching, “arm…” Cross responded by yanking his shirt off him like he was a child, ignoring Allen’s displeased grunt.

They both saw it at the same time. A fuzzy patch of discolouration that had been on Allen’s arm even before it had become red and uneven seemed to pull itself together before their eyes. Stark black lines seemed to be painted onto his skin by an invisible brush. Allen forgot the pain for a moment, eyes wide as the mark seemed to flutter then settle.

A heart sat atop some abstract design-- Allen dimly noted it looked ancient somehow, or perhaps like a wing-- and inside of it was a simple, closed eye. It sat in the middle of his inner forearm, right between the veins. He could feel his pulse making his skin throb as the pain ebbed out of him.

“What in the world...” He breathed, not really believing what he was seeing.

Cross sat back, ignoring the shards of broken glass around them and they both stared at Allen’s forearm.

“I...is it a curse? Did someone do this?” Allen’s voice was unsteady. He knew what the mark was.

Cross gave him a deadpan stare, and Allen’s shoulders slumped a bit.

“It… can’t be, right?”

Cross sighed and stood up, “apparently it can be.”

Those words crashed around in Allen’s head and he looked down at his arm, “But… I’m twenty one…”

“It’s not unheard of it taking that long to show up, even if it is unusual. Maybe your soulmate was just born, or maybe they were in more denial about it than you.”

“But! I just didn’t have one! This is ridiculous! This is fake! It’s not even a name! There must be something wrong with it! It hurt my arm!”

“You know damn well it isn’t always a name. You’re supposed to be happy about this, you know.”

“It hurt me! It must be something bad--”

“Kid, any magic hurts your arm. Soulmarks are a type of magic.”

Allen clenched his fists. Then he bowed his head, staring at his lap and turning the mark over in his mind. He didn’t have to look up to know Cross was raising an eyebrow at him but he didn’t care. He picked himself and his shirt up off the ground, still reeling. He walked up the stairs and to his room, locking the door behind himself.

Allen all but threw himself onto his bed, rolling onto his back and staring up at his dark ceiling. He closed his eyes and hoped he’d wake up to something different in the morning.

Allen found it easy enough to forget about the mark, most times. He’d spent twenty one years already not worrying too much about it. It didn’t seem all that romantic to him-- that there was some person out there who fate was shoving him towards without his consent-- so he pushed it out of his mind.

They say you only truly know who your soulmate is once you see your name-- or in Allen’s case, their mark-- so he felt comfortable in the knowledge that he always wore long shirts publically and didn’t get out much. He could easily continue to focus on his and Cross’ magical research and never have to think about it again.

It would be nice though, if Cross would stop teasing him mercilessly.

“I wonder if your soulmate is shitting their diaper right now.”

Allen felt his eyebrow twitch but said nothing, pretending to be focusing on the notes he was taking. Cross hummed, taking a long drag of his cigarette.

“Don’t you have work to be doing?”

“Probably.”

“I think you’d be more productive if you went and did it,” Allen said dryly, making Cross chuckle, “Besides, I don’t really care what they’re doing.”

“You keep making that abundantly clear.”

“Then why do you keep bringing it up?” Allen finally looked at Cross, annoyance stamped on his face,

“I don’t care about where they are, I don’t think it matters,” Cross uses his fingers to make air quotes around the words sarcastically, “to me, it sounds like you’re convincing yourself more than me.”

Allen pursed his lips and turned back to his work. Cross was nosey and didn’t know what he was talking about, Allen decided as he picked his pen back up. He resolved to not rise to any more of Cross’ taunts, trying to find his place in the book again.

“I guess you have lots of time to grapple with it, seeing as you probably won’t find the kid till they’re all grown up.”

“For god’s sake, Cross, stop with the kid stuff! I’m pretty sure they’re grown--” Allen clamped his mouth shut, his carefully laid plan already in ruins under his own words.

“What makes you say that?”

Allen sighed, rubbing the back of his neck, “Does it matter?”

“No.” Cross said after a moment of consideration and got up to saunter back over to his work station. Allen stewed in annoyance, looking down at his arm and thinking about the shadow of a mark that had always been there-- so faint and fuzzy that no one had ever connected it to anything like a soulmark. He sighed, Rubbing his face. He was grateful to fall back into silence as the two of them tinkered away.

There was a lot of peace in the time that Allen spent with Cross in his lab. An incredible amount of chaos, too, of course. Chaos clung to Cross as if he were glue. Allen had long since grown used to that. But there were times when the two of them sat together and laboured away on the intricate pieces and parts of the machine of Cross' dreams that Allen couldn't help but feel some form of tranquility.

It never lasted long, however.

"I suggest you get up and walk upstairs." Cross said calmly, sitting back and dusting off his hands.

Allen looked up after a moment, putting down the tiny screwdriver he'd been using, "What?"

"Well, this is going to explode in a few moments. You can stay if you want, I don't really care, but I'm leaving."

Allen practically stuck to Cross' heels as they hightailed it out of the basement and shut the door tightly behind them, hearing the muffled bang behind the carefully enchanted door just a moment after they’d turned the lock.

"I seem to recall you'd said you were onto something with that yesterday." Allen said dryly.

"Yeah, well," Cross said, walking over to the fridge, "That fire can't last too long down there. We'll clean up after lunch."

"We?"

"Did I say we? I meant you."

Allen sighed, "Yeah, I figured."

"I think it was a problem with the wiring."

"Oh, you think?"

"Don't get snappy with me, idiot." Cross glared at him, then turned back to the sandwich he'd started to put together, "I think it's not properly adjusting to the natural flow of magic and overloading itself."

"I could see that." Allen said, glancing at the basement door. The kitchen stood bright and cheery around him with it's blue walls and ceramic floor. someone had put a lot of care into decorating the place at some point and Allen almost felt sorry for what it had become with him and Cross living there.

"I'll have to get you to help me with the plan b trials to get it working. I can't hold the device and enchant it at the same time." Cross said, rubbing his chin.

"Alright, sounds like a joy."

Cross rolled his eyes, "Are you able to do any elemental magic yet, brat?"

"Wouldn't you know what I could or could not do as my teacher?"

"I literally don't give a fuck, kid."

Allen chuckled a little and nodded, "Right, how could I forget. Yeah, I can do a little elemental stuff. What are you thinking?"

"I'll see if I can get something to work but I want you to practice some lightning."

"Lightning? Why?"

Cross ignored him and headed for the door, "Go and make sure everything is just smoldering now. I want the basement ready to work in again when I come back."

"Yeah, whatever."

Cross eyed Allen sharply and closed the door. Allen sighed and rubbed the back of his head, heading downstairs after a moment.

Cross barged into the basement that evening as Allen was wiping down the top of his workstation. He looked around the room as Allen straightened up, nodding a bit.

“Looks to be in working order. You, however, look disgusting.”

Soot seemed to come off Allen in a cloud as he shrugged. His body cried out at the use of any extra energy; Renewing all of the enchantments on the workstations always made his arms burn with exhaustion. His head throbbed a little as he leaned on the table.

“Thanks.”

“Go shower and go to bed. Tomorrow you’re spending the morning on lightning drills. That should give me enough time to get it done.”

“It?”

“Get out of my sight, dirt boy.”

Allen shook his head with a smile, slinking out of the room and jogging upstairs to shower.

\---

Allen’s hair crackled a bit as he walked downstairs into the lab with two cups of coffee. Cross was bent over his table, the ring around his eye a little darker than usual. Allen set the mug down beside him, drawing Cross’ dark eye over to him.

“What time is it?”

“About two thirty,” Allen said as he took a sip of his coffee.

“Hmn. Right on time.” Cross mumbled to himself, stepping back and looking at the small golden shape on his workbench.

“What’s this?” Allen took another sip of his coffee, taking a moment to inhale the caffeinated fumes.

“Ancient magic style. It’s called a Golem-- a creature animated from clay.”

“Clay? Why are you working on this instead of that magic container and booster you’ve been pushing for years.”

Cross slapped the back of Allen’s head, making him splash some coffee onto the front of his freshly pressed white button down, “If you’d let me get to the end of my damn explantation, maybe you wouldn’t have to waste my time with inane questions like that.”

“Right well by all means.” Allen glared at Cross, not even bothering to dab at the stain.

“Inside of the clay is a mechanical body. The previous attempt at a core for it exploded yesterday so I had to make another one.”

“And this core isn’t going to blow up?”

“Eh, probably,” Cross drained half his cup of coffee and Allen frowned, “You’re going to be the one giving him his first spark of life anyway.”

“What? Why me?”

“Because I have fuck all depth perception and you’re going to have to hit a very small area. I’ll be holding him.”

Allen shifted his weight, leaning in to inspect the tiny creature. It was about the size of a softball and had a golden sheen to it, with a carefully smoothed cross on the front of it and wings that seemed too delicate to carry the round little body. Allen wrinkled his nose a bit at it.

“Alright, well, might as well get it done.”

“You practiced your lightning?”

“Yes, Cross.”

The redhead seemed to size Allen up for a moment before putting on his safety glasses and picking up the little golem. A tiny bit of the mechanical interior was exposed under the outer shell and Allen inhaled and exhaled slowly.

He closed his eyes drew from deep within himself-- reaching out for that wild energy that lived inside his chest-- and found it. He felt his hair rise and crackle with the electricity he summoned, carefully shaping the energy within him into the charge.

He opened his eyes and lifted his hand, focusing the lightning into his palm and pushing out, sending a controlled bolt from the middle of his palm towards the little creature. It arced gracefully across the small distance and hit its mark.

The golden creature’s wings spasmed and extended to their full span, and a tail that had been hidden under the creature extended. It trembled for a moment, and Allen released the lightning when Cross nodded at him. Allen tensed a bit as a few moments of silence passed. His body turned towards the door a bit, watching for smoke.

Then, the golem whirred to life. The clay of its body seemed to grow over the exposed frame and the creature rolled forward onto a tiny set of limbs. Though it had no visible eyes, it seemed to look around and slowly stretch its wings out; it’s tail wagged back and forth slowly.

“Hm, that went well,” Cross said as he put the little creature back onto the workbench, “go ahead and pick him up, brat.”

Allen glanced at Cross then stepped closer, holding out his hand to let the golden thing crawl into it. It seemed to regard his hand, then look up at Allen as it slowly crawled into his palm, tail swishing inquisitively. Allen smiled a bit, slowly scratching the top of his head.

“Does he have a name…?”

Cross blinked a bit, seemingly unimpressed, “Uh, no?”

“Well, let’s call him Timcampy then.”

“I guess? If you want to name it, fine.”

Allen grinned a bit at the golem, watching him flap his wings eagerly.

“Maybe try putting some magic into him before you go and get attached to him though. He might blow up yet.”

“Oh,” Allen drooped a bit, running his fingers over Tim’s oddly feathery wings.

He closed his eyes, drawing again from that buzzing spot inside him, but this time pulling air from it. Tim trembled in his hand and Allen opened his eyes, watching with raised eyebrows as Timcampy opened a gaping mouth. Allen pointed his fingers over the unnatural darkness inside of Tim’s body and exhaled, letting the powerful stream of air get sucked up by the little creature.

He released it when Cross gave him another nod, and the Golem happily licked his lips before closing his mouth. He flapped his wings and took off into the air, soaring in a happy figure eight.

“Looks like it worked…” Allen said, wonder in his voice.

“Well enough, I guess. Keep putting spells inside him.”

“How do I use what’s inside him?”

“Ask him to use them? They’re already in there waiting. If you tell him to use the air he’ll figure it out.”

“Wow…”

Tim floated over and landed neatly on Allen’s head, flapping his wings and batting his tail against Allen’s hair.

“Great. I’m going to go sleep.”

Allen just hummed in response, preoccupied with his new pet.

 

\---

Allen made his way towards Peachie’s Pizza. The evening air was crisp and making his stomach growl which its usual eagerness. Timcampy was nestled in his pocket, little hands pressed against Allen’s, and his wings tucked neatly against his little body.

It was peaceful.

The seed of unease in Allen’s stomach seemed to grow again as he walked. He had no gift for prophecy or divination of any sort-- but something seemed off. There was a tickle at the back of his mind that gave him pause. He shook his head.

His feet ached as he pushed open the door to the pizzeria. The wash of warm air seemed to wrap around him as he stepped inside, smiling. Peachie nodded to him with a kindly smile as he set his bags down on the table.

“The usual?” She asked. Allen just nodded with a sleepy smile as he eased himself into a chair.

Allen closed his eyes for just a moment, leaning his head on his hand. The sound of two boxes being put on the table beside him made him jump and sit back straight, limbs all jerking before he got a hold of himself.

“That teacher of yours is pushing you too hard,” The old woman frowned, tapping the boxes she’d brought to Allen lightly, “you take these and tell him I said you get to rest, yes?”

“Wh-what?”

“You tell your teacher that Peachie say Allen gets to rest tonight with his pizza, okay?”

Allen laughed a bit, rubbing the back of his neck, “I’ll be sure to let him know.”

A few moments later Allen was out the door and walking back towards home, stomach growling obnoxiously as the scent of fresh pizza danced around his nose. Tim crawled out of his pocket, dropping towards the ground before swooping up and landing neatly on the top of Allen’s head.

Allen tried to juggle the two large pizzas and his keys for a moment before he gave up and put the pizzas down to unlock the door. The door swung open a bit as he leaned down to pick up his pizza again and he hummed in contentment as he shouldered it open the rest of the way. The foyer was dark and quiet.

“Hello? Cross?” Allen called, kicking off his shoes before walking into the kitchen. He froze.

The room had been absolutely torn apart. Allen sucked in a breath and looked around the silent kitchen slowly. The kitchen table had been upended and the contents of every cupboard-- sparse though they’d been-- were on the floor. He shoved the pizzas onto the counter and dropped his bag, turning to see the living room in no better shape. A dried pool of blood caught his eye and he moved towards it slowly. It wasn’t that big all things considered-- not enough to assume that someone had died there-- but someone had gotten hurt. Allen swallowed.

His arm tingled as he hurriedly made his way down to check on the lab. Wisps of smoke floated in the room aimlessly as Allen reached the bottom of the stairs. There was an unsettling weight to the air. Everything in the room was gone. Allen looked around slowly, brow furrowing. The workstations, the shelves, the research notes, everything. Just gone.

Allen sprinted up the stairs to the ground level, swinging around the corner and up again to the second floor. Items spilled from his and Cross’ rooms into the hall-- all thrown carelessly at the door. There was a lingering residue that seemed to hang in the air inside the house-- something charged and magical. He waded through the doorway to Cross’ room and cast his eyes around.

The chaos of it was hard to parse. When everything was out of place, nothing really stood out to him as a clue or indication of anything other than that someone had torn the place to shreds. He spotted Cross’ journal on the ground and grabbed it, shoving it into his bag to consult later for clues. As he turned to leave, a small envelope fluttered down from the ceiling and floated delicately in front of Allen.

Allen stepped back a bit in surprise, squinting. The word “brat” in Cross’ flawless script stained the top corner of it. He plucked it from the air and opened it, pulling out the small square of cardstock.

“Don’t come looking for me. Things get bad from here on out. Burn the house before you leave. -Cross”

Allen frowned, leaning against Cross’ dresser. The house was still eerily silent as he thought everything over. Cross was giving him an out for some reason. The eight years since the accident flashed through Allen’s mind and he closed his eyes.

Allen clenched his fist as he pushed off the dresser and strode into his room. He began to pack quickly, almost blindly.

Who could have done this? What had emptied the lab? Cross, or someone else? Had he been taken, or did he run? Questions swirled in his mind in tight circles. Allen grit his teeth, shoving shirts into his biggest backpack.

Did Cross know that this was going to happen? Allen’s hands paused as he considered that possibility. The long list of errands he’d done that day had kept him out and about for hours-- almost the entire day.

He shook his head. He could think later. Timcampy fluttered around his head and Allen looked up and him and smiled, offering a hand for him to land on.

“Ready to go find Cross?” He asked, and Timcampy’s golden tail swished back and forth, excited.

\---

The first month had been a bit of a wash. Allen rubbed his forehead, closing his eyes to take a break from staring at the pages of Cross’ journal. The cafe around him bustled with people. He let himself get lost in the noise of conversation and clinking coffee mugs. Silver eyes opened again and stared down at the unfamiliar runes.

The first half of the book had been straightforward enough. Notes on the mechanics that went into creating Timcampy, a couple diagrams, lists of resources and tools Cross had used. There had even been a few notes on Allen’s training as a mage-- more flattering notes than he’d expected to find-- scattered through the pages.

The second half of the book was a nightmare.

As far as Allen could tell, it wasn’t written in any common language. The runes were intricate and ancient looking, written by a modern fountain pen. Allen was fairly certain they were meant to be read top to bottom, which was something, but past that Allen had no idea what they were. No english letters littered the second half of the book. No clue or indication towards any kind of meaning or even a cypher if it was a code. Allen tugged on his own hair a little, glaring down at the paper.

He probably needed help.

Timcampy dipped his little hand into Allen’s drink and brought it up to his mouth to lick as Allen leaned back in his chair. Allen’s gloved hand came up and scratched the top of Tim’s head as he picked up the phone that he had plugged into the wall.

A quick search returned a few options that he might have for a local translator and he sighed again, picking up his coffee to take a sip. The unease that seemed to live in the pit of his stomach stirred and gnawed at his insides. Allen closed the journal with a slow hand and tucked it into the inside pocket of his jacket.

He drained his coffee and picked Tim up, slipping through the door and plugging the address of the nearest translator into his phone. He started walking and tapped the phone number of their office.

“Hello, LBJ translation services.” A sleepy voice said after four rings.

“Ah, hi… I have something I need looked at but I don’t know what language it’s in. are you able to look at it today?”

“Oh, sure. Are you going to be emailing us with the scan of the document?”

“I’m in town actually, so I was going to go to the office listed on the internet to drop it off.”

“That’s fine too. I should be able to look at it ahhh… probably any time after the next hour or so, but it might take a couple hours or days to finish.”

“I’ll drop by in an hour.” Allen said, slowing his pace down a bit.

“Great. Did you need anything else?”

“Um, no.”

“Alright, see you soon.”

Something about the words made gooseflesh prickle its way over Allen’s skin. He shook his head a bit as they both hung up.

Allen had a hard time dragging his feet, kicking a stone along the sidewalk and letting Timcampy fly in circle around him.The journal bumped against his chest as he shifted his jacket around him.

The residential home was not what he’d expected. A small office, maybe. One of those tiny rooms in a larger office perhaps. But a tiny box of a house tucked away at the back of a corner lot in a sprawl of similar streets was… Well, Allen wasn’t sure it was actually all that surprising. A handwritten sign with “LBJ Translations” in perfect script hung neatly in the window.

Allen sighed and trudged up to the door, giving it a firm knock.

There was a the sound of something being dropped or knocked over inside and muffled words. Allen tried to keep his face even as footsteps approached the door. The scent of green tea and seventy-eight cent ramen noodles wafted past the threshold of the door as it was pulled open.

The tall, red headed man and Allen locked eyes for a moment. Allen felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise a little and he blinked dumbly, thinking that the stranger looked oddly familiar. Recognition flashed in the other man’s eyes, but he opened his mouth to speak before Allen could.

“Hey! Are you the one who called earlier?”

Allen nodded.

“Great, come on in. I’m Lavi.”

“Good to meet you. Allen,” Tim settled on Allen’s head, which drew Lavi’s gaze away from his face for the first time, “oh, um, and this is Tim.”

“Nice to meet you…”

Allen stepped inside, kicking off his shoes. The house was nearly entirely in boxes. Boxes sat, stacked in each corner like tin soldiers in the living room that Lavi lead him into from the cramped foyer. Every single one of them had the label “books” or “reference” on it.

“So, what service are you looking for exactly, Allen?” The mischievous glint in Lavi’s eye made Allen squirm and sit a little closer to the edge of the couch.

“Well um. I have this journal.”

He pulled it out of his coat and took a moment to open it to the first page of runes. He offered it to Lavi and sat back as the redhead took it in.

“I don’t know what language it is, though…”

Lavi’s eyes swept the page and silence ticked on for several moments before he looked up, “How the hell did you get this?”

“What?”

“This is an incredibly old and obscure set of magical runes.”

Allen shrugged, “That doesn’t surprise me. My teacher and I are mages.”

“But you can’t read it?”

“He never taught me to.”

Lavi rubbed his chin, looking down at the runes, “They’re… not really a language usually meant for conveying like… messages. Even when they were contemporary they weren’t used for that. They’re… containers, kind of.”

“Containers? For what, magic?”

“Precisely. records from the time state that components of spells could be passed along through the power of these runes, so someone could recreate a specific effect,” Lavi looked at the book again, starting to flip through the pages, “I’ve never seen them arranged like this before, though, so maybe your teacher was trying something…? Why haven’t you asked him about this?”

“He’s missing.”

“Ah.”

They both paused, Allen picking at the lint on the sagging couch cushion and Lavi clearing his throat.

“Well, I’m sorry to hear that…”

“I thought there might be a clue in there to find him.”

Lavi sighed, running his fingers through his hair and considering it, “I’ll translate it as best I can, but it’ll take me a while.”

“How long is a while?”

Lavi rubbed his chin, thinking, “if I spent all my time on it a week, maybe, but that’ll be pricey.”

“How pricey?”

“Somewhere to the tune of a thousand dollars for a rush job, unfortunately.”

Allen frowned, “How about a not rush job?”

Lavi regarded Allen for a few moments, an amused glint in his eyes.

“A couple hundred?”

“I can do that,” Allen smiled.

“I can’t promise it’ll tell you anything though. It might not help you.”

“I figured as much, really, but I can’t risk the possibility that it does have something and not look,” Allen looked at his hands, unclenching them. Tim fluttered to his shoulder, drawing Allen’s gaze.

“Alright well, I should have something for you in the next couple weeks.”

Allen blinked a bit, “Oh, um, I guess I have to leave the journal with you… unless you’d be able to make copies?”

“I think the original document is easier for me to work with, especially since it’s magical, y’know? It’s safe with me. I know how to take care of books.”

Lavi waved his hand around the room and Allen looked at the boxes a bit dubiously.

“Besides, I’m sure you don’t want to just sit around my office for weeks.”

“Well, actually that doesn’t really bother me. I’ve got my own work and I can do it anywhere,” Allen decided not to mention he was also technically homeless.

“Is that so?”

Lavi seemed to size Allen up. Allen shifted, legs tensing a bit as he put his hands down on the couch.

“Well… alright. Kinda weird, but I guess it’s fine.”

Allen looked surprised, “Oh, really?”

“Yes, but some ground rules,” Lavi said quickly, “I’m not going to give you an progress update every ten minutes or anything, and I’ve got something to finish today before I start on your journal.”

“Oh, yeah, that’s fine,” Allen took the journal back from Lavi, looking at it contemplatively, “Should I come back tomorrow?”

“Nah, unless you mind waiting an hour or two.”

“Okay. Should I stay in here?” Allen looked at Lavi’s face, feeling a flutter of familiarity at the back of his mind.

“Yeah, sure, my desk is just in that corner there.”

Lavi got up and sauntered over to his cluttered desk, opening up his laptop again. Allen pulled his legs up onto the couch, taking Tim in his hand. Allen had stored a few spells inside of Tim since Cross had disappeared, and it seemed that the little Golem was still happy to accept more.

Once Allen felt Lavi’s eyes drift away from him he closed his eyes and summoned some small, simple spells to his finger tips, letting them jump from there into Tim. The Golem swished his tail back and forth, licking his lips in contentment as Allen took a moment to recenter himself.

“Why are you casting on that…. Thing?”

Allen looked up to find Lavi watching him with interest, his hands still typing away on his computer. The redhead’s eye drifted back briefly to the keyboard before looking at Allen again.

“Timcampy is something my teacher made. He’s meant to store spells, so you can use them later without needing to use your energy.”

“Oh, I’ve read about that,” Lavi snapped his fingers, “I’ve never seen it in action though.”

“Most haven’t, Tim took quite a few tries to make.”

Tim floated out of Allen’s hand, flitting over to Lavi and floating around his head in a wobbly circle. Lavi offered his hand and Tim plunked himself into it, flashing Lavi a toothy smile.

“Maybe that’s what the runes are for then.” Lavi offered, petting the strange feathery wings of the Golem.

“Maybe. I hope it’s something more. It would be just like Cross to write down something in a dead language and leave me to try and figure out what it means.”

Lavi let Tim take off, looking thoughtful, “Well, that’s what you’re paying me to do, so don't worry about it so much. Hand me the book?” Allen got up and crossed the room to give it to him, returning to the couch to pull his own journal out of his bag.

“I just hope it’s not nothing. I’ll be back at square one.”

“Only one way to find out,” Lavi flipped open the book to the page of runes and bent over them, leaving Allen to his own devices.

The week went by like that; peacefully. When Allen was at Lavi’s place he found his eyes finding Lavi’s form as he was bent over the leather bound journal. For all his talk about a rush job or regular job, he always seemed to take the journal when Allen arrived and work on nothing else. Allen rubbed his chest a bit, looking down at his own notes. He’d have to spend a couple days working on protective wards by his own estimation, something he’d probably want to leave Lavi’s living room for. The balance of boxes upon boxes stacked on other boxes was probably delicate.

“Allen?”

He jumped, looking up at Lavi with a furrowed brow.

“Just so you know, I don’t work on weekends usually but,” Lavi had a glint of amusement in his eyes, “I might be willing to if you want.”

Allen considered that, “How much?”

“Well, um,” Lavi hesitated a moment then just smiled, “Whatcha got?”

“I--,” Allen stopped with a frown, “What’s the price.”

The redhead laughed, heaving himself up and picking up a mug and a wad of papers, “How about I show you what I’ve got, then we negotiate.”

Allen nodded, standing up as well. He following Lavi into the kitchen as he filled his mug.

“Want some tea?”

“Ah, no thanks.”

Lavi nodded, sitting at the kitchen table and laying the papers out. Allen leaned in to look as Lavi took a long sip of his tea.

“... It’s gibberish.”

“You think? It seemed like something you could figure out. I guess it doesn't come out in translation as much, but all of these things are deliberate in the runes. I’ve never really seen them used like this.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well it’s like math. Each thing means something specific and adds up into magic.”

Allen frowned, looking at the words again. Lavi had seemed to divide each line of runes up, writing the originals in small, crisp lines above the translation. Each word was pristine, as if a computer had printed it instead of Lavi’s hand.

Allen picked up the pages with a sigh, flipping through them. Row upon row of words loomed from the canvas of each page, each begging for him to unravel them. Understand them.

“I wonder what would happen if I tried to cast whatever he put in his notes…”

Lavi shrugged, “I’m not magic, couldn’t tell you.”

“You know magic runes, though. You’re not able to cast at all?”

“Most people only have their soulmarks as magic, and I’m one of them,” An odd edge hovered in Lavi’s voice, but Allen just nodded.

Allen scrunched up his face and looked at the pages again, “The word oracle seems to show up a lot. And Conduit.”

“I noticed that too. The other word that I noticed a bunch of was innocence. But, it was weird even in the runes.”

“What do you mean?”

“Even for how old the runes are… that symbol was an ancient form of the concept. I had to look it up because I’d never seen it before. And even that… the translation isn’t… perfect but there wasn’t anything better, I guess.”

“Well that seems important, probably,” Allen said, running his fingers through his hair.

“Probably,” Lavi agreed, and they both looked down at the pages.

“Wait, you were going to try and charge me for more gibberish?”

Lavi grinned lazily, holding his hands up, “heh, gotta eat.”

A knock at the door surprised them both and they looked over their shoulders towards the foyer. They looked at each other again and Lavi stood, winking at Allen.

“Be right back.”

Lavi padded over to the door in his thick socks. Allen sighed, half listening to the door open as he looked down at his pages again. He brushed his fingers over the words Lavi had written, wrinkling his nose.

“Allen Walker? I’ve never heard of him.”

Allen snapped back to reality at the sound of his own name. He stood silently, tucking the translation and the journal back into his his jacket, very slowly walking to the edge of the kitchen. Timcampy sat on his shoulder, vibrating ever so slightly.

“Is that so?” The voice at the door was like honey-- smooth and sickeningly sweet, “You’re sure he’s not here?”

“Uh, yeah? I can help you with translation if you want though as that is something I actually know anything about.”

“Hmn.”

There was a thud and a yelp and Lavi was thrown back by an invisible force, flying past the kitchen door and landing on the stairs as Allen stepped out of the kitchen and into the hallway, facing the attacker calmly.

“Ah there he is, the young Mr. Walker.”

“Who are you?”

The man smiled, his golden eyes flashing as he darkened the door of Lavi’s home. He was tall and broad, with an aura to him him that hung around him like a king’s cloak. He moved, his hands coming up and a white light swirling around him, but Allen didn’t give him a chance, throwing a ward up and expanding it like a bubble. The dark man stepped back in surprise and Allen grabbed Lavi’s hand, yanking him up and running for the back door.

“H-hey, ow, fuck, wait--,” Lavi groaned but Allen slid the door shut behind them.

“Don’t make a sound,” Allen closed his eyes, summoning magic forth from his chest and cloaking them both in a shroud of invisibility. His ward shattered and he pulled Lavi flush with the wall as the man blasted through sliding door, walking out and scanning the backyard.

He sighed, rubbing his brow and uttering a soft curse. Allen clenched his fist, glaring at the back of the man’s head. He could sense something… wrong. Something dangerous about the man. Something murderous. The anger that gnawed at Allen’s stomach quivered at the idea of a fight with him.

The man vanished into a cloud of miasma that seemed flutter away from him, and Allen exhaled.

“What the fuck,” Lavi breathed out, hand clutching Allen’s. Anger was replaced by guilt in Allen’s gut and he licked his lips, leading Lavi back into the house.

“Allen, seriously, the fuck was that? Who--”

“Lavi, you heard me ask him who he was. I don’t know either. I’m sorry.”

Allen almost heard the expression on Lavi’s face, bringing him up the stairs. Allen hadn’t been up there yet but he was unsurprised to find more boxes labeled books lining one side of the hallway.

“I didn’t mean to get you involved Lavi. I didn’t know anyone knew about me.” He allowed the invisibility to dissipate into the air-- causing a small shattering of silver light to flutter to the ground before vanishing.

“What do you mean, knew about you?”

“Cross is a powerful mage… who was kidnapped or worse. But they didn’t stick around and wait for me. I thought that meant they didn’t know about me.” Allen looked down, stomach churning.

“Okay, great, well, if you’re going to bring glass door shattering sorts to my house you have to leave.”

“... You’re involved now, Lavi.”

“I…,” Lavi stilled, looking at Allen and crossing his arms slowly, looking down, “Shit.”

“Yeah.”

“What do I do?”

Allen considered that, stroking Tim’s wings lightly before the little golem fluttered off his shoulder and landed on Lavi’s head.

“Ah…” Allen rubbed the back of his neck, “Come with me?”

“Excuse me.”

“I can protect you.”

“You can hide!”

“Well, that’s still more than you can do,” Allen looked away, jaw working, “Look, I’m sorry. I’ll help you get somewhere safe and I’ll protect you as much as I can until we find you somewhere. It’s better than staying here and waiting for someone like that to come back.”

“That guy…” Lavi frowned, rubbing his arm, “What was wrong with him?”

Allen looked up at him, a bit surprised, “You sensed that?”

“Sensed? I dunno. There was something wrong with him. Evil.”

“Yeah. I don’t know what it was, but it was powerful.”

They stood in silence for a few long moments. Lavi looked around slowly, putting a hand in his sweater pocket.

“Man, how do I get myself into messes like this…” He mumbled, more to himself. Allen raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

“I guess if you want to stay, I can’t make you go.”

“This was my grandfather’s house, is all,” Lavi rubbed the back of his neck, “ I guess I can pay the bills on the run still… the internet still works.”

Allen shrugged, “House isn’t going anywhere. Like I said though, do what you want. I think you should let me find you somewhere to lay low. Some of my teacher’s… acquaintances might be able to help you.”

“They couldn’t help you with the book?”

“There are some things I would trust them with, Cross’ research is not one of those things.”

“But you trust some stranger?” Lavi frowned.

“Who would you tell? It’s just a job to you.”

“Speaking of, I’m raising my rates on you.”

Allen blinked and shook his head with a slight smile, “Fair, I guess. Are you going to come with me?”

Lavi looked at Allen for a moment. There was a pressure in his chest that Allen couldn’t really explain as their eyes were locked. Lavi glanced up and down before finally turning away. He ran his fingers through his hair and after a long moment, nodded.

“Fine. But I don’t like this.”

“I really am sorry, Lavi. I didn’t want to drag anyone else into this mess.”

Lavi nodded, “Yeah. and uh. Thanks for saving me from that guy.”

“Least I could do. Lets get packed up and hit the road. It’s not wise to linger, I think,” Allen looked down the stairs as if he expected to see their pursuer at the bottom of the stairs.

Lavi moved quickly, packing a duffel bag that Allen suspected had more books than useful things like clothes, food, or bandages but he didn’t say anything. He raided the kitchen for supplies as Lavi called a contractor who wouldn’t ask too many questions to fix the glass door.

Allen would have burnt the house down to not leave a trace, but he just pursed his lips as they finally snuck away from the house as twilight fell.

They slept at the train station and the next morning they were on their way. Allen flipped through the journal as Lavi stared out the window sullenly. The runes looked back at Allen, the ink thrumming with some kind of potential.

“So this guy we’re going to see,” Allen looked up at Lavi as he talked, “You know him well?”

“Komui? Ehh… No. He and Cross have exchanged research notes. I figured he might be able to point us in the right direction with these translations. I just… wish he wasn't so far away. Or, I wish I had a phone number. I really only know what city he lives in.”

“I guess it’s an adventure then?”

“Something like that,” Allen said, leaning his head against the glass.

“Can I look at the journal again?”

“Hm? Why?” Allen sat up a bit, closing the little book.

“Well, not much else to do. We’re on this train forever.”

Allen considered that then handed the book to Lavi, picking up the translation notes Lavi had already given him. A little bit of anger rumbled around his chest as he looked at the ridiculous puzzle Cross had apparently laid out for him. A dead magic system with a message encoded in it, no other contacts to reach out to, and a pile of debts Allen would probably be on the hook for.

“Turn oracle Innocence.. innocence above take… oracle hill rise,” He mumbled, trying to parse what it meant. Timcanpy crawled onto Allen’s chest and received an absent minded scratch between his horns.

“This is probably some kinda code,” Lavi said, rubbing his forehead.

“Yeah, I think so too… I just don’t know what it means. I think oracle must refer to someone, right? Who, though…”

“Well, there used to be tons of oracles, if old texts are to be believed. Some people born with the gift of sight into the future, following the threads of time. Maybe your teacher knew one?”

“It is possible, for sure, but who?” Allen flopped back in his seat, frowning.

“Well maybe this Komui guy has a clue,”

“I don’t have much hope, but maybe,” Allen sighed, “Cross said the guy was a bit of a loon. Better a good guy than whoever attacked you, though, even if I’m not sure we can trust him completely.”

They looked at each other for a moment and Lavi sighed, looking away. He rubbed his arm, frowning with worry. Allen found his eyes tracing Lavi’s jaw for a moment. The mid morning light streamed in and set his hair ablaze; It drew Allen’s eyes up to the shifting strands and held him there for a moment.

Allen crossed his legs and tore his eyes away, looking back down, “I wonder if this is the right word order…?”

He turned the paper to its side, staring at the words. The words, for their part, continued to not make any kind of sense. Allen groaned and rubbed his face.

“As best as I can tell, that’s the order, but like I said. Not really a language language. It’s… I guess it's kind of like coding? It’s something that makes something else happen,” Lavi said with a shrug.

Allen mulled that over, “Maybe we need to use the words on something…”

“Like, cast a spell?”

“Yeah, I guess so.” They both frowned, looking at the papers.

The hours passed quietly as the rolling countryside passed them by. Allen leaned his head against the glass as the stars began to peak out from behind the curtain of day. He missed the train rides of England-- they were certainly much shorter than the American lines.

The sun rose over New Orleans as the train pulled into the station. Allen nudged Lavi who snorted, sitting up and blinking blearily at him. Allen smiled a bit and nodding towards the door.

“Time to go.”

Lavi nodded and heaved his bag up onto his shoulder, following Allen out as he rubbed his eyes free of sleep sand. The morning sun rested heavily on their shoulders-- already hot. They made their way out onto the street and Allen looked through the first through pages of Cross’ journal.

“Okay… where are we going?” Lavi asked, eyeing a coffee shop just down the street.

“Dunno.”

“Come again?”

“I told you, I don’t know where this guy lives, I only know its in the city.”

“How are we going to find him?”

“Somehow. We’ll look for Cross primarily, but try to find word of his contact too.”

Allen looked at Lavi seriously, making him roll his eyes, “Right, of course. Let’s get coffee first, yeah?”

“Coffee? Sure…” Allen followed Lavi, rubbing his chin. Cross had a way of leaving a lasting trail in cities he visited. Perhaps if he asked after Cross, he’d be able to find someone who knew him? Allen nodded to himself, clenching his fist tightly to steel himself against the insistent worry that clawed at the back of his mind.

There was an electricity to New Orleans that reminded Allen of the feeling of magic coursing through his veins. Perhaps it was something about smell of the food that hung in the air, blanketing the city in a light fog, or maybe it was the way heat seemed to seep through him as if he’d dunked himself in water, but a low thrum of life and energy seemed to course just below the surface of the city. History seemed to dwell in every nook and cranny, for good or bad.

Lavi seemed to be melting, Allen mused as they lugged their backpacks through the city. The backpack strapped to Lavi seemed to sag under the weight of the books he’d crammed into it, just as Lavi seemed to sag under the weight of his burden. Allen scrolled through google maps, searching for the cheapest hostel.

“We’re probably going to be sharing a room. I can scrounge up enough for something private even in a hostel, but I can’t do single rooms.”

“That’s fine. I just need some quiet time. If you don’t mind sitting in silence,” Lavi said, wiping his forehead.

“That’s fine.”

Lavi nodded a bit, leaning in a little to look at Allen’s phone, “So where are we headed?”

“Well, this place looks cheap and google says it doesn’t have bed bugs. The Hog Bottom Hostel.”

“Oh boy, sleeping in a pigs ass,” Lavi said dryly, “Sounds appetizing.”

“Better than a place with bed bugs.”

“Probably true.”

Allen turned on the GPS guide, following it faithfully as it took them through the belly of New Orleans. People bustled around them, going to and fro. Tourists took pictures and walked along the roads with their kitschy treasured clutched in their hands or in plastic bags. Allen vaguely wondered it was like to visit a place without a motive-- to explore a new place and absorb it without a taint of necessity.

“Oh, I see the sign for the place,” Lavi said, pointing ahead. Allen follow his finger, squinting to see. He just nodded.

“Oh yeah, there it is,” He said, leaving the GPS on until they were at the front door of the building.

“Well, let’s get a room, some food, and then hit the pavement! Surely, if your teacher was here we can sniff him out,” Lavi nodded to himself, looking at Allen who blinked a bit.

“Well… let’s hope so.”

As it turned out, New Orleans was very familiar with the man named Cross Marion. Probably more familiar than Allen had ever wanted to know. And the bills he was handed when he said Cross’ name were another thing he could do without. Allen threw the wad of papers onto the table of the pub, frowning deeply as Lavi raised his eyebrows from behind the pint he was nursing.

“No luck, huh?”

“Another bill and no lead. I’m starting to wonder if Cross did this on purpose.”

“What are the chances of that?”

Allen considered that, sipping his water thoughtfully, “fifty fifty?”

“Yeesh.”

“Well, he’s an asshole. I don’t think he’d go to this extent for anything… even with all the shady stuff he’s pulled. Plus I burnt down the house so if he isn’t actually in trouble he’s in trouble with me.”

“And you with the law. For arson.”

“Really? For my own house?”

“Well you put other people in danger. I’m pretty sure it’s a felony.”

“Oh,” Allen said, considering that.

Lavi chucked at Allen’s furrowed eyebrows and sipped his beer, setting it to the side, “so what’s the plan from here? It’s been nearly two weeks and we’ve turned up nothing but shit for you to pay off.”

Allen sighed, leaning his elbows on the table and running his fingers through his hair.

“I don’t know. Maybe his contact lives outside of New Orleans proper? We could check out nearby areas?”

“That sounds reasonable, but uh, where would we start? This city is huge.”

Allen grumbled and picked at the cuff of his jacket, “We’ll look up a map of the city tonight I guess. Maybe there’s an area of town with more magic in it. Probably somewhere around the cemeteries? I know there’s a big culture of mysticism in this city so I dunno. Maybe starting with the bars was me asking for trouble.”

Lavi raised both eyebrows, “Yes. It was. Why wouldn’t we have started there?”

“I… I guess I was hoping we’d find Cross instead of his contact,” Allen looked down at the table. Lavi made a thoughtful sound.

“Well, let's make the plan of attack from now on to go to magic areas first, yeah?”

Allen wrinkled his nose at the softness in Lavi’s voice and stood up, “Let’s go back to the hostel. We can start our search over in that area tomorrow after we do our research.”

Lavi drained his glass and stood up as well, following Allen out into the humid evening. They slipped down an alley, heading back towards their little base. Allen glanced over his shoulder at Lavi to make sure he was still there, blinked as he saw Lavi’s eyes widen in surprise.

He felt himself getting pulled to the side before he could even formulate asking Lavi what was wrong. His back met with a brick wall violently and a blade kissed his neck, pressing into his skin just enough to break it.

Allen refocused his eyes on the man standing before him as Lavi made a terrified sound. Steel blue eyes met his and a lazy breeze bustled past them. There was a moment of tension before Allen swallowed and glanced down at the sword. His left eye twitched as he noted the soft and unearthly glow that flickered around the entire sword.

“So, uh,” Allen said, breaking the heavy silence, “Who are you?”

“I’m the one who asks questions, brat,” The man growled, flicking his bangs out of his eyes.

“Oh, well, excuse me.”

“Let him go!” Lavi had retrieved a plank of wood from somewhere in the alley, and brandished it at Allen’s assailant.

“He’s got a sword to my neck, Lavi, maybe don’t hit him please?”

“Wh-I… I was obviously just threatening him, Al, I’m not--”

“Both of you shut the fuck up. I will absolutely slice his throat if you don’t put that down.”

Lavi gulped and slowly put the plank down on the ground. The man turned his attention back to Allen, eyes full of cold fury.

“Who are you?”

“I’d be more comfortable telling you without a blade to my throat,” Allen said slowly, twitching his fingers to summon some energy to them. The tip of the blade sunk ever so slightly deeper into his neck, drawing a small flow of blood.

“Cast anything and I’ll end your life. Who are you.”

“Now, Kanda, this isn’t the best way to make a first impression.”

The three men jumped, turning towards the light, musical voice that had come from behind Lavi. The woman smiled and tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear as she put a hand on Lavi’s shoulder.

“Tsk. I don’t care,” He said, but Allen felt him withdraw the blade enough to stop cutting into Allen’s neck.

The girl ignored him, “I heard you’re looking for Komui,” was all she said as she trained her eyes on Allen.

“Yeah… So what if I am?”

“Well, we don’t take kindly to being asked after you see… my brother tends to get himself into trouble; we don’t need anyone poking around our business.”

“Well, I need his help.”

The girl raised her eyebrows a bit, tipping her head to the side as she evaluated Allen. A tense moment passed and she nodded to the man who took a half step back, still holding his sword tightly.

“With?”

Allen frowned, rubbing his neck for a moment before pressing lightly to help the blood clot and stop staining his white shirt.

“I… I’m looking for Cross Marion.”

Both of the two assailants blinked stupidly, staring at Allen for a beat as Lavi shifted under the girl’s hand.

“Cross? Why?”

“He was kidnapped.”

“And you are who?” The girl squinted at Allen a little.

“I’m his apprentice.”

“Hm…” The girl humming, taking her hand off Lavi’s shoulder and rubbing her chin. Lavi took a huge, gasping breath and dropped to his knees, making Allen jump and scurry forward to him.

“Ngh, Al…”

“Lavi? Are you alright?”

“Oh, he’ll be just fine. You’re really Cross’ apprentice? I thought he couldn’t tolerate any other living person he wasn’t banging long enough to train them.”

“Well, I wouldn’t really say he tolerates me much, but he has trained me at least.”

“What do you think, Kanda?”

The man-- Kanda-- grunted at the girl. His eyes stayed pinned to the other pair as he sheathed his sword. Allen looked at him with a frown, but Kanda just glanced away with a scoff.

“Alright then. We’ll meet you tomorrow morning outside of your hostel. Be outside by nine.”

“Of our hostel?” Allen said, helping Lavi up to his feet.

Lenalee just smiled, “See you at nine.”

She stepped over to Kanda, grabbing his arm and in a blink, they both vanished with a puff of air. Lavi groaned a bit and Allen pulled his arm over his shoulders, pulling him along towards their hostel. The hairs on the back of his neck bristled and he was acutely aware of eyes burning against his back. He swallowed as they got inside, lugging Lavi into the tiny room they’d rented.

“I dunno what she did to me Al,” Lavi mumbled, “I feel real strange.”

“Shh, we’re almost to the room, you can sleep it off,” Allen shouldered the front door to the hostel open and slipped inside.

Allen woke the next morning with the dawn. He wrung his hands together lightly and slipped into the bathroom to shower. He left the door open a crack to release steam; he hoped he wouldn’t have to open the window.

He came out in a towel, seeing Lavi sprawling on the bed with eyes that had slowly begun to blink open. Allen hurried to his suitcase as Lavi released a mighty yawn.

“It’s so early… Why are you awake?”

“Nervous.”

“Mn…” Lavi’s eyes slid over Allen’s body lazily, “What happened to your arm?”

Allen grimaced a bit, pressing his arm closer to his body as he headed back towards the bathroom, “An accident.”

“Ah. Sorry?” Lavi rubbed his eyes.

“Don’t worry about it,” Allen shut the door behind himself and sighed, kicking himself for not remembering to bring clothes in with him.

They ate breakfast and slipped outside as soon as Lavi was corralled into getting ready. The air hung in hot waves around them even the early hour. Two figures stood across the street, leaning against an old fence. Allen swallowed and strode forward, stopping just in front of the girl, who smiled kindly.

“Morning!”

“Uh, good morning,” Allen said, glancing at Kanda before turning back to Lenalee, “Where are we going?”

“Komui said he’ll meet with you, so why don’t you just follow us?”

“Can we really trust these guys, Allen?” Lavi leaned in to stage whisper.

“I don’t have to bring you,” The girl said flatly, levelling her gaze at Lavi.

Allen punched Lavi’s arm, drawing a yelp from him as he looked at Lenalee, “don’t listen to him.”

Lenalee just giggled and turned, leading them through a twisting and turning path through the city that had Allen confused about their location in relation to the hostel almost immediately. Lavi’s shoulder bumped against his as Lenalee led them down a side alley to a door that sat in the middle of an otherwise blank wall. She pulled it open and motioned for Kanda to go in first, then looked at the other two.

“Go on. Komui is expecting you.”

Allen swallowed and exchanged a brief, nervous glance with Lavi. He turned his eyes forward and strode into the dim hallway. The light overhead flickered as Kanda lead them to the door that stood guard at the end of the hallway. He glanced at Lenalee, then opened it, motioning for the pair to step in.

It reminded Allen of Lavi’s living room. Papers seemed to flow like water from every drawer, table top, and shelf in the room. A man sat behind a desk, sitting up as the four walked into the dimly lit office. He adjusted his glasses and smiled easily at the pair, steepling his fingers together.

“Well now, what can I do for you two?” he said, his voice like a jittery song. Allen licked his lips and took a moment to appraise the man before him. Lavi glanced between the two of them, and back at Lenalee and Kanda as they closed the office door behind them.

“We’re looking for Cross Marion,” Allen said after a beat, “I’m his apprentice.”

Komui leaned back in his chair. His glasses caught the light of the lamp, rendering them opaque to Allen’s eyes.

“Apprentice.”

“Yes,” Allen stilled his hands as they itched to fidget under the gaze Komui had pinned to him.

“And your friend?”

“Someone who accidentally got involved. He’s safe.”

“How do you know that?” Komui asked tipping his head to the side.

“I don’t think anyone would follow me on this if they had a choice in the matter. The least I can do is keep him safe until he can go back home.”

“You don’t sound like the kind of person Cross would train in anything except how it feels to get swindled,” Komui looked over the tops of his glasses meaningfully. Allen snorted at that, nodding.

“I assure you I’m well versed in that feeling thanks to him. I just picked up a spell or two along the way. And some debt.”

“And yet you’re looking for him.”

Allen clenched his jaw, looking away for a moment. He moved to reach into his pocket, but a sword pressed against his neck in an instant, making him pause.

“I’m just getting a book out of my pocket.”

Kanda made eye contact with Komui over Allen’s shoulder and Komui nodded. After a moment, the sword withdrew and Allen pulled Cross’ journal out without sparing the swordsman a glance. He stepped forward and offered the small book to Komui.

“At the bookmark. There’s a paper there with a rough translation.”

Allen took a half step back and to the side as Komui opened the book. Komui’s eyebrows lifted slightly as he scanned the information.

“Does it mean anything to you?” Komui asked carefully.

“It looks to me like Cross is trying to communicate something, but he never taught me these runes. Lavi translated these as best he could, but other than that I don’t really understand,” Allen looked down, swallowing the lump that threatened to stick in his throat.

“Lenalee, my wonderful sister, might I ask your opinion?”

“Yes?” The question seemed to have surprised the girl, but she quickly regained her composure.

“What do you think of these two? Trustworthy?”

Lenalee raised her eyebrow but looked at the pair of them, “Ehh… genuine. I don’t know about trustworthy or reliable, but I think they’re telling the truth.”

Komui hummed at that and drew himself up to his full height. Allen tried not to be surprised that the gangly man was able to fold himself up under the somewhat squat desk, but the twinkle in Komui’s eye made Allen think that he noticed.

“Well! I must say I think your translation is commendable for your knowledge of the language! However, you’re clearly not a mage.”

Allen glanced at Lavi just in time to catch the way his face tightened at the words. He blinked and Lavi was smiling sheepishly.

“Ha, ya caught me. I’m just a book nerd.”

Komui nodded with an emphatic hum as he swept past stacks of paper. He crossed the room to a dirty chalkboard and hastily wiped a spot clean. He looked at the book again then quickly filled it with scribbly copies of the runes, chattering all the while.

“Well, while you understand the words, you don’t know how they flow, or how they relate to each other. Everything about magic is a balance. You have to understand how to create the perfect combination of factors to produce the effect you desire. A lightning bolt, for example, must come from the friction of your mind. You have to summon the power of it and guide it through your body like one might guide an actual bolt!”

Komui grouped the runes on the board and turned, eyes a bit excited, “now, in this case, the runes are trying to convey the message, while doubling as a spell. You know what the words are now, right, Allen? Say them with me.”

Allen blinked a bit, looking at the board.

“I’m not sure how to read it, though I do know all the words…”

“Start here, and read each word written in a circle before moving to the next circle.”

Allen nodded, and together they read aloud, “Turn Innocence Oracle, Oracle above the hill, Innocence take rise.”

There was a startling echo to their voices as they read, as if the sound of it was too slow to move at the right pace. Unbidden, Allen grabbed his chest as a glow appeared in the middle of the room. Lavi put a surprised hand on his shoulder, and Allen arched his back, gritting his teeth for a moment as the glow intensified. His magic flared up inside his chest, leaving Allen trying to calm himself in silence. Slowly a form emerged from the light-- a simple square of paper, it seemed-- and floated into Allen’s hands, crinkling as if it were real.

“It… it’s a map,” Allen said, bewildered. Komui and Lenalee leaned in, curious to see what Allen meant, furrowing their eyebrows. A small description in Cross’ neat handwriting said “follow the riddle to your death, and the map to salvation.” The map was hand drawn and clearly not to scale, but it was something. A path to follow, even if Cross had no idea how this was supposed to help.

“Well, I suppose it is. Does it mean anything to you?” Komui asked, looking at the iridescent page.

“Um…” Allen wrinkled his nose, “Well, that formation there reminds me of a place we visited a few years ago. Maybe it’s that? We were in California then, I think. He left me alone there for a few days while he took care of something he didn’t mention. Maybe he went to see the oracle.”

“Then we should go there? Maybe we can figure out where the oracle is from there now that we have the map!” Lavi said, leaning in to look as well, “I’ve studied a little bit of cartography, I might be able to help.”

“I think Cross would have to know what he was doing when he drew it for that to work, but I do think we should go.” Allen rubbed his chin in thought, eyes glued to the map. There was a creeping worry inside his heart that the map would vanish before his eyes, and he’d be left with no leads yet again.

“I’ll be going with you as well,” Kanda said. Everyone in the room snapped their eyes to him in surprise.

“You?” Lenalee said, surprised..

“Yes. Unless you think I can find Alma by being a bodyguard. We’ve been looking for clues. Another mage being kidnapped is one hell of a clue, plus if there is an oracle they might be able to help metoo. I think it’s worth investigating.”

“True,” Lenalee conceded, “I’ll go with you too! Komui will still be here to listen for leads. I want to help find Alma. It’s not the same here without them.”

Kanda crossed his arms, glancing to the side, “We’ll go.”

“Er…” Allen cleared his throat, drawing their attention, “You want to come with us?”

“Yes. We’re looking for a missing mage too.”

“I gathered that. I’m going to have to respectfully decline. Two people is already double the amount of people I want to deal with when it comes to this. We would draw too much attention, the four of us,” Allen paused as Kanda pinned a furious look to him.

“I don’t recall caring about your opinion. We helped you. You help us.”

“He has a point, Al,” Lavi said, “They did help us…”

Allen sighed. He knew searching for Cross was going to be a hassle. He found himself longing for the sweet embrace of his bed back home. It was probably still a smouldering pile of ash, but he missed it all the same.

“Fine, I guess. But if things get dangerous, I am not going to protect you.”

“As if I’d need your protection, beansprout.”

“B-beansprout?! You want to call me that again?”

Kanda tsked and turned to face Allen. He opened his mouth to say something, but Lenalee’s elbow found a him in his ribs and he jumped, glaring at her.

“Let’s start planning our trip, rather than getting angry,” Her tone was placating enough that both Kanda and Allen just looked away with a huff. Lavi patted Allen’s shoulder with a small chuckle, earning him a stink eye from the shorter man.

“We’ll catch the evening train to California. We’ll have to rent a car or something once we get there, but I think we can manage that. Meet us at the train station by five?” Lavi said, seeming a little more chipper.

“How do you know there’s a night time train the California?” Allen looked at Lavi, surprised.

“Oh, I looked at the train schedule a couple days ago and it mentioned one. I imagine it should be going still.”

“Well… I guess that’s as good a plan as any,” Allen rubbed the back of his head, looking up at Lenalee who nodded, a determined glint in her eye. Reluctance hung in his words, but no one seemed to pay him any mind.

“Don’t be late,” Was all Kanda had to say as he ushered Allen and Lavi out of the room, slamming the door behind them. The pair looked at each other and nodded before they started back towards their hostel.

The four met again and were on the train without a hitch, sitting in a cramped private cabin. Allen sighed as the train started, head already aching from the desire to curl up in a proper bed. An awkward silence fell over them after they were settled into their seats.

“So who is Alma?” Lavi asked, looking at Kanda. Tension rose in the air dramatically as Kanda settled his steely eyes on Lavi, who smiled nervously, “W-well, since we’re all looking for people and all…”

“Alma is Kanda’s soulmate,” Lenalee said, earning herself a vicious glare.

“Oh! How romantic, running off to save your missing half!” Lavi sighed softly, making Allen roll his eyes.

“Shut up, rabbit. You wouldn’t get it.”

“Not get it? How would I not get it?”

“You obviously haven’t found yours yet. It’s not some trivial romantic garbage, it’s real.”

Allen barely contained a snort, choosing instead to stare out the window. Lavi huffed and crossed his arms.

“I know it’s real!”

Allen felt himself smile a little at the petulant note in Lavi’s voice.

“What’s your soulmate’s name, Lavi?” Lenalee asked, and Lavi immediately sputtered, looking down.

“I… have an image, not a name.”

“Ohh that’s so rare! You know, I heard that because it’s harder to find your soulmate with a mark that you’ll have a stronger connection when you do find them.”

“I’ve heard that too! I hope it’s true, or I’ll be a little miffed at my soulmate for not giving me a name to work with. Have you found yours yet Lenalee? What’s their name?”

“Ah, I um, it’s a little personal.”

“Oh! Sorry, I get excited, heh,” They lapsed into silence for a moment before Lavi set his eyes on Allen. He could feel Lavi’s eyes on him despite his head being turned to studiously watch the darkening countryside roll by.

“What about you, Allen?”

“I don’t care about soulmate stuff,” Was all he said, hoping to drop the subject.

“Ehh? You don’t care? Why? You don’t want to meet your person?”

“No, I don’t.”

“Why not?” Lenalee asked. Allen glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, surprised by the understanding tone to her voice.

“... I hate how everyone treats it like the be all and end all. Like your life is incomplete without it. I’m not half of something. I’m complete on my own,” Allen crossed his arms, dour.

“Aw, Aly grumpy kins. Does your soulmate have a stupid name or something?” Lavi teased, making Allen bristle.

“I don’t have...” Allen looked at Lavi, hesitating despite his usual venom for the topic. There was something in the way Lavi looked at him that made his mouth go dry and the thought of lying, “It doesn’t matter.”

“Come on, I’m sure it’s not so bad. Let me see.” Lavi said, leaning in close to Allen from the seat across from him. Allen heart skipped a beat and he looked at Lavi dryly.

“No.”

“Where is it? Let me see! I won’t laugh if it’s a stupid name.” Lavi practically jumped into the seat beside Allen, tugging at Allen’s collar, “or is it in an embarrassing place? I had a friend who had their soulmark on their left ass cheek.” Lavi’s hands made no serious effort to remove any article of Allen’s clothing, but he laughed as as Allen squawked in outrage.

“Oi! Hey! Get off me!” Allen started shoving at Lavi’s playful hands. Lavi swung an arm around his neck and pulled him in, giving Allen a rough noogie. Lenalee politely sighed and got up, moving to sit beside Kanda as the other boys wrestled in the seat across from them.

Allen managed to shove Lavi off, huffing and puffing and dishevelled. Lavi grinned at him, looking exactly the same despite Allen’s best attempts at a retaliatory mussing of his hair.

“Anyway, I’m surprised,” Lenalee said carefully, earning the attention of the wrestlers, “I had always thought mages had a vested interest in finding their soulmates. It makes magic more powerful.”

That piqued Allen’s interest and he turned to Lenalee fully, “What do you mean?”

“Well, there’s not really enough true mages these days to confirm, but historical depictions of soulmates shows that magic users tended to amplify each other. Komui has put a lot of effort into researching how magic used to be, it’s how he knew about the runes and all that. If you visit again I’m sure he’d show you.”

Allen considered that. It made sense, he reasoned, that two sources of magic being put to one use would make something more powerful. He frowned, mulling that over.

“Well, like I said. I am not interested in finding them, and any soulmate I would have probably isn’t a mage anyway, so what would it matter? Even before the decline of those with magical ability there were people who couldn’t use it. It’s just not realistic for me, anyway.”

“Realistic?” Lavi asked, making Allen flinch a little.

“The world’s big. Going on a hunt for my soulmate simply for power is just not something that I think is useful,” The half-truth felt bitter on Allen’s tongue, but he swallowed and kept his face even.

“Tsk, how selfish.”

Allen jumped, looking at Kanda in surprise.

“What?”

“You’re not the only person. It’s incredibly fucking selfish to act like a petulant child and ignore the fact that your partner probably wants to meet you and would be hurt to be ignored.”

“Ah, It’s not like you to say something, Kanda,” Lenalee said mildly.

“It’s not often I’m in the presence of such a fucking idiot.”

Lavi bristled beside Allen, frowning deeply, “Well maybe we should change the topic then.”

Everyone was silent for a few moments and Allen groaned internally. Memories of this same conversation ran around and around in his mind, making him sink lower in his seat and lean his head against the window, content to look at the journal and try to piece together the translation and the rune system in his mind.

Lenalee cleared her throat, “Perhaps we should try and sleep. We’re going to be on this train for about two days, so it’s probably better we’re well rested.”

“Yeah, That’s probably a good idea,” Lavi said, stretching his legs out in front of him. Allen watched him out of the corner of his eye, admiring the long legs for a half a second before turning his eyes back to the book.

“I might stay up a little more. Tim can-- oh no, Tim.”

Allen jumped up, reaching up to the overhead compartment to retrieve his backpack and open it. The golem zoomed out of it, slamming its hard body against Allen’s face and making him yelp a bit.

“Ow! Ow Tim, I’m sorry-- Ow! Hey stop that!”

Allen struggled to pry the golem off his face, holding its mouth open to prevent another bite on his nose. Lavi laughed at him as Kanda and Lenalee blinked in bewilderment. Tim finally took off, flapping over to Lavi angrily and lighting upon his head. He nestled into the red locks of hair and turned away from Allen.

“Ah… I guess I deserve that for leaving you in the bag for so long…” Allen said apologetic, “Do you want some food, Tim? I think I have some beef jerky left.”

Tim’s tail perked up a bit, flicking back and forth slightly in front of Lavi’s face as Allen dug around in his bag, pulling out the crinkly plastic bag that held the cured meat. At the sound of the plastic Tim took off again, flying around Allen’s head excitedly, making the white haired man smile as he sat down.

“What… is that?” Lenalee asked as Allen fed Tim a chunk of jerky.

“Oh, this is Tim. Cross made him,” Allen said, “He’s, uh, a golem.”

“What does he do?”

“Dunno.”

Lavi glanced at Allen questioningly and Allen swallowed, hoping that Lavi wouldn’t blow the lie. Lavi said nothing as Lenalee raised an eyebrow.

“But you said Tim can right before you got him out.”

“Er…” Allen kicked himself mentally, trying to come up with a lie, “Well I was going to say he could have dinner.”

“That’s a lie.”

Allen shot a terse look at Kanda who didn’t seem bothered by it. Allen sighed, rubbing the back of his neck.

“It’s Cross’ research. I don’t want to say anything you wouldn’t already know through your brother.”

“I suppose that’s fair, but you could just say that. I understand what it’s like to have a secretive person in your life,” Lenalee said, “Besides, we’re on the same team right now, right? We all have the same goal; to find the oracle.”

Allen smiled a little, looking to the side and rubbing the back of his neck, “I suppose you’re right. I’m sorry.”

Lavi shifted beside him and Allen glanced up. His head lolled forward as he slumped to the side, eyes fluttering closed and Allen immediately stood up, getting in front of him with alarm in his eyes.

“Hey, Lavi? Are you alright? What’s wrong?”

Lavi groan a bit, seeming to come back into himself all at once, sitting straight up and looking at Allen, disoriented.

“S...Something is wrong?”

“What? Are you sick?”

“Something is wrong.”

“What is?”

Lavi paused, looking to the side with a bewildered look on his face, “I… don’t know. What happened?”

“We were just talking about Tim and you passed out or something,” Allen moved to his bag, retrieving a water bottle and pressing it into Lavi’s hands. Lavi nodded and took a sip, mulling that over.

“I remember… but for a second everything was dark. I can’t… explain why but I just. I know something is wrong.”

“Are you on something?” Kanda asked, drawing an annoyed look from Allen and a chuckle from Lavi.

“No… I don’t think so.”

“I’m going to walk around. Stay here and turn the light off.”

Allen slipped out of cabin and looked down the hallway, letting Tim slide into his pocket as he headed towards the front of the car. He moved slowly, eyes glancing into each of the cabins that lined the car. The murmur of the wheels on the tracks seemed to drown out the conversations that each cabin held, making Allen’s nose scrunch up as he moved.

He made his way back slowly, ears pricked for anything unusual. A cabin door opened just after he passed and and he jumped nearly out of his skin, whirling back to look. A scruffy man peered at him from behind coke-bottle glasses, blinking lazily.

“Scared ya?”

“Er… yeah, but it’s fine.”

The man shrugged, “Sorry,” He said, turning slowly and heading away from Allen, towards the bathroom. There was an odd richness to the man’s voice that echoed in Allen’s ears.

He frowned, uncomfortable as he hurried back to his cabin and shut the door tightly behind him. Lavi was still rubbing his head as he looked up at Allen, brows knit together with worry.

“See anything?”

“I don’t think so,” Allen said as he pulled down the little curtains on their cabin door, “but I have the feeling we should trust your instinct. We’ll get off at the next stop and either transfer our tickets or just buy new ones.”

“I don’t recall agreeing to that.”

Lenalee sighed, “Kanda, there’s no need to be difficult. I don’t think there’s another stop for a while though.”

“We can ask the food trolley when it goes around?” Lavi supplied, leaning back in his seat, “Maybe we should get some sleep though…”

“I’ll keep watch, you three can sleep,” Allen said, a little resigned.

“Keep watch?” Lavi rubbed his eye.

“When you’re in the magic business you take passing out and visions seriously.”

“Visions? I didn’t have a vision, I’m not magical.”

“Non magical people are able to be influenced by these things sometimes,” Allen shrugged, taking his seat and keeping his eyes on the door, “But you guys should get some sleep while you can. I’ll wake you all at the next stop.”

Lavi frowned at that but didn’t push for more answers. Kanda shrugged and leaned back in the seat, stretching his legs out to take up more legroom than he was entitled to, crossing his arms and closing his eyes. Lenalee shook her head a bit and curled up on on the seat, using her jacket as a pillow.

Lavi closed his eyes and Allen’s gaze strayed from the door to his form in the dim cabin. His breath was even, but not the deep and even breath of sleep yet. The way his red eyelashes seemed to flutter against his skin was somehow clear to Allen in the low lighting, and he found himself transfixed by it.

He shook himself a bit, looking back up at the door, gently stroking Tim’s head to keep himself awake. His eyes grew heavy as the first, then the second hour passed by him; The night rumbled along like the train did on its tracks.

Footsteps in the hall jerked Allen to wakefulness. They were leisurely in the approach. The hair on the back of Allen’s neck rose and he frowned, sliding out of his seat carefully. He put his hand on Lavi’s knee, then the other on Lenalee’s hand before he moved to brush his leg against Kanda’s calf. He inhaled, then plunged the group into invisibility, straining to keep all of them hidden almost immediately.

The door to their cabin slid open and a dark figure stood there, peering into the seemingly empty cabin.

“Are you in there, Walker?” The voice said lowly. Allen felt Lavi jerk awake and prayed he didn’t make a sound, licking his lips slowly.

“I know you’re on the train, little mage. Come on out.”

Lavi’s hand rested on top of Allen’s, squeezing lightly. Allen squeezed his knee back as the man slowly shut the cabin door again and continued his way down the hall, walking slowly.

Allen released the invisibility with a wheeze, mirror like shards splintering off from the forms of the four of them before vanishing.

“We need to go. Through the window maybe. We can walk the rest of the way.” Allen whispered urgently, “I can’t fight with magic in this confined of a space, someone could get hurt.”

“But you think we could make it off a moving train?” Kanda hissed groggily, narrowing his eyes. Allen nodded, not sure when he’d woken up. Lenalee was rubbing her eyes as Allen moved carefully to the window.

“If we all jump out at once I can catch us. It won’t be pretty but it won’t hurt. Everyone grab your stuff.”

Kanda and Lenalee exchanged a look as Lavi sighed, getting up and grabbing his stuff. He looked troubled as he moved up beside Allen, peering out the window at the wilderness.

“I don’t think we can all fit through this window. We may just need to hide until we can get off the train…” Lavi whispered, uneasy.

Allen chewed his lip, “I just don’t want innocent people to get involved…”

“He already checked here, if we’re quiet we should have some time.”

Allen said nothing, licking his lips anxiously as he slowly sat down again, looking at the door. The rest fell silent as the train ticked along. Exhaustion scratched at the edges of Allen’s mind but he kept his eyes open.

He knew it was the same man that had attacked him at Lavi’s house. That voice had too many dark intentions behind it to forget. How had he been able to track Allen to this train, was the question that ran in circles around his mind. How had anyone known to look for him, even? It vexed him and made him stew with frustration as he sat, silent and shrouded in darkness.

Allen sensed a disturbance in the air only a split second before a wall of forceful energy blew the cabin door off its hinges. The flimsy thing made contact with Allen as he stood up in alarm, knocking off balance as a shadowed figure surged into the cabin.

A hand was around Allen’s throat as he raised his hands, unsure of what he even intended to do, and dark energy crackled around the hand on his neck. It squeezed threateningly and Allen stilled. It seemed as if Allen’s body weighed more-- it became sluggish and confused as his mind churned.

“Well, Mr. Walker, it seems we’ve finally had the good fortune of meeting,” The voice was smooth and calm like a riptide.

“Charmed. Who are you?”

“You may call me Tyki, I suppose. Pleasantries aside, I have some business I really must attend to with you, if you’d be so kind.”

The man’s lips quirked up a bit, his wavy hair impeccably slicked back as he glanced to the side, noticing the blade at his throat.

“Let him go,” Kanda growled, eyes narrowed.

The man hummed, seeming unbothered as he turned his eyes back to Allen, “The Earl would like to make your acquaintance, boy.”

“The who?”

The man quirked an eyebrow, watching Allen for a moment as if to gauge his words. Kanda let out an annoyed snarl, lunging to slice into the man’s arm. The blade slid through harmlessly, as if it was moving through air. Allen swallowed.

“Interesting. I suppose it doesn’t really matter if you know of him or not,” He squeezed Allen’s neck again, eyes tight as Allen’s ears picked out the soft sound of flapping wings, “You’ll find out soon enough. You have something of his.”

“What?”

The man’s other hand came up slowly, resting just over Allen’s heart, “Everything will work out just fine if you stop running away.”

“I have my doubts about that,” Allen kept his eyes pinned to Tyki’s face. In his periphery, Lavi shifted a little more towards the open door of the cabin.

“Heh, smarter than you look, then.”

“I guess so. Thunder, please.”

Tyki blinked, glancing at Allen’s hands before a shower of electricity erupted from behind him, making him turn in alarm to block the flow of energy. Heat pooled in Allen’s hands as he used the moment to swing his fist into Tyki’s jaw, making contact as fire burst out like a shock wave from the impact.

Tyki stumbled back in surprise and Allen pointed at the wall, reaching into himself desperately and unleashing an explosion that knocked out the wall of the cabin, exposing it to the howling air outside. The force of it knocked everyone back to the other side of the cabin and left his sleeves in tatters-- the left aching in pain-- but Allen was on his feet again in an instant. Lavi groaned and started pulling himself up and Allen turned, pointing at the ungraceful lump that Tyki had fallen into on just the other side of the ruined cabin door and looked up at Timcampy.

“Cast a ward please!” He hollered, grabbing Lavi’s arm and turning to Lenalee, who was already picking Kanda up.

“We’re gonna jump. Ready?”

She nodded as a shimmering barrier appeared between them and Tyki. Tim landed on his head and he nodded to Lenalee, both of them carrying their pair as they ran forward and leapt off the train.

Lenalee soared into the air and Allen plummeted quickly, holding his breath as he summoned magic from the well within him and expelled it as his feet hit the ground. He and Lavi shot back up into the air as a powerful gust of wind carried them up, following Lenalee’s path through the night sky. Allen reached up with his left arm to hold Lavi’s head in place as they passed the fulcrum of their trajectory and began the rough trip towards the ground.

Lenalee landed near him, tossing Kanda aside like he was a sack of potatoes and leaping up towards Allen, twin red rings glowing around her ankles. She caught Allen’s thin frame in her arms, reaching as far as she could to hang on to Lavi.

Their wild descent slowed to a bumpy landing as Lenalee’s boots in the ground. She yelped a bit and tipped backwards from the momentum of two extra bodies and they all landed in a heap.

“T-Thank you, Lenalee. I was starting to worry about a broken ankle, there,” Allen said, pulling himself up.

“I was thinking somewhere closer to shattered legs and pelvises but you’re welcome.”

Kanda grouchily pulled himself out of the bush he’d landed in, approaching the group to help Lenalee up. Lavi rolled onto his back, staring up at the sky.

“Lavi?” Allen called, concern lacing his voice. His whole body ached from the magic he’d used in his panic, but Lavi had next to no exposure to magic. Lavi lifted his head up a bit to look at Allen, his green eyes wide.

“Warning next time?”

Allen blinked for a moment before a chuckle escaped him. He rubbed the back of his neck, noting the way the shreds of his shirt sleeves tickled his skin.

“Yeah, alright,” He smiled, offering Lavi his hand. Lavi looked at the arm, sliding down to Allen’s forearm before his body seemed to freeze. Allen jolted a bit, realizing it was his left and pulled it back, switching to his left.

“Ah, sorry, come on, let’s get you up.”

Lavi looked up at Allen, something dancing in his eyes. His expression suddenly became schooled and guarded as he took Allen’s hand, getting up onto wobbly legs.

“Are you alright?” Allen leaned to the side a bit to look up at Lavi’s face.

“Yeah, a bit sore.” Lavi’s voice was tight, but Allen didn’t push it, nodding as he turned to the others.

“We’ll have to hike a few miles to the next town. We can rent a car there. Safer. I say we go some distance tonight just in case we’re being pursued. I think Tyki would have a problem with that ward, so unless he blew another hole in the train, we probably have a good distance between us, but I don’t want to stick around where we landed.”

Lenalee listened to the speech and nodded, glancing to Kanda who just shrugged, his face tight, “We need to keep moving anyway, and it’s not like I’m sleeping again tonight.”

Allen nodded, glancing at Lavi who looked away quickly, rubbing his arm, “Okay, I guess lets google maps it?”

“You think we’ll get service here?” Lenalee asked as Allen pulled out his phone, checking it.

“Ehh… we… don’t.” Allen swallowed, a bit tense, “I don’t know how to navigate…”

Kanda shook his head with a scoff, looking up at the stars, “The train was heading west so let’s keep going that way. There's bound to be a town along the tracks.”

“Plus you might get service back as we go along so we can adjust our course then. This is California after all, can’t be that long before we find a farm or a town or something.”

They set off, following Kanda through the woods. Dry air settled around them as they moved carefully through the almost pitch black countryside. They used the flashlights on their phones to move steadily until morning began to lighten the eastern sky behind them.

Allen was almost glad for the destruction of his sleeves as they walked along. Even the nighttime carried that oppressed him, but his freed skin managed to catch every breeze that offered itself up to them. He tried to ignore the lack of chatter that Lavi produced as they walked along. It felt tense in a way Allen was unused to.

“I think we should rest,” Lenalee said finally. Allen nodded, feeling weariness weigh down on his shoulders.

It seemed that Kanda had a wide array of survivalist knowledge and in no time they’d set up little beds and settled in. Allen sighed in relief as he laid down, glad for any reprieve. Lavi laid beside him, casting sidelong glances at Allen.

Allen glanced back and Lavi looked away quickly, seeming to make sure that Lenalee was laying down and Kanda was on the other side of the camp, grumpily eating a protein bar before he lowered his eyes to Allen’s again.

Allen blinked sleepily, watching Lavi curiously as he seemed to struggle with his words for a few moments.

“Can I ask you something?” He said, finally.

“Sure, Lavi. Is it about my arm?” Allen hadn’t meant to sound terse, but his voice was a little ragged.

“Yeah… I um… well, I’ve never seen anything quite like it.”

“Mn, ugly, isn’t it?” Allen looked at his palm, turning it over slowly to look at the palm, then the back, then the palm again. Lavi scooted closer to him, keeping his voice low.

“No, I didn’t mean it like that, I just… wanted to know what caused it,” Allen looked up and caught Lavi’s eye again. Lavi held his gaze for a moment before he lowered his eyes, looking at Allen’s hands.

Allen hesitated. Pain danced in his heart for a moment, but something told him to trust Lavi, “It was an accident…” He began. He looked up at Lavi who had looked at his face again, eyes pinned to Allen’s with rapt attention.

“I didn't have good control when I was young. Of my magic. It… it got out of control and hurt me,” and someone I loved, he left unsaid.

“Can… I touch it?”

Allen squirmed but after a moment held out his hand. Lavi’s eyes slid up his forearm again, resting on the unsightly black mark for a moment before he took Allen’s hand, running his fingers over the cool, leathery skin.

They smiled at each other a little, Allen looking away bashfully as Lavi touched the sharp black nails then danced over the cross that had imprinted itself on his hand.

“It feels nice,” Lavi said carefully, “Did you always have magic?”

“Yes,” Allen said, relaxing under Lavi’s touch, “I was born with it, I think.”

Lavi slid his hand up Allen’s arm, touching the skin where it transitioned from wrinkled and dark to painfully white, “My clan used to be magic.”

“Your clan?”

“My family. They specialized in… knowledge, I guess. Collected magic artifacts and languages. They had memory charms and seals and the like. Nothing combative, but… important. My gramps was the last one who could cast anything.”

“Huh… I guess your clan was a group of environmental users. You can only draw magic from what’s around you, but if there isn’t any magic then… you can’t use it.”

Lavi nodded, “Since the fall of magic users our clan got smaller and smaller and now… it’s just me.”

“You’re the last?”

Lavi nodded again, his eyes tight as he looked away, “But I still remember… which was really what my clan wanted. Besides, they had strange traditions.”

“Oh?” Allen’s eyes were getting heavier but he fought sleep. It was soothing to have Lavi close, to have his hand gently tracing senseless patterns on his skin.

“They would suppress soulmate magic, make the name blurry. They couldn’t break the bond but they could make it... clouded. It made us biased to have the marks, I guess. What else… we have a coming of age ceremony that’s kind of like the SATs but worse. We have our own language.”

“Your own language?” Allen knew his voice was slurring a little from how close he was to sleep, but he fought his drooping eyes.

“Mhmm, I’ll teach you sometime if you want. It’s neat, but few people can read or speak it any more.”

Allen nodded, his vision going dark as sleep claimed him. He felt fingers on the inside of his forearm as he fell asleep, tracing the little mark that lived there.

\---

Allen stood, holding the ephemeral map and looking at the ramshackle building on the hill ahead. He scratched his head, feeling Lavi lean over his shoulder a bit to look.

“That must be it, right?” Allen said, turning his head to look at the redhead. He’d be surprised by how close Lavi was if it hadn’t become something of a norm. Kanda sighed, earning an elbow from Lenalee.

“It looks like that’s the place. We should check it out even if it isn’t though. Might have another clue.”

Allen nodded and let the map dissipate into a lick of blue flame and glittering ash, “Alright, onward.”

The four walked up the dramatic incline of the hill. Dry plants rasped against their clothes as they carefully picked a path upwards, trying to get to the front door of the ancient cabin. A small oasis of green flowed out of the flowerbed at the front of the cabin and the plot of garden at the side. An Almond tree flowered prettily as it shaded the front porch and walkway.

Allen stepped onto the porch, motioning for the others to stand back as he approached the door. He swallowed and rapped his knuckles against the wood three times, leaning in to listen for movement inside. The door opened and he jumped back in surprise as a woman shrouded in white peered up at him.

“Young Allen Walker,” She said, her voice seeming to echo, “and your companions. Please come in.”

Allen looked back at the others. There was a tense moment before Lenalee shrugged and made her way up the steps, following Allen into the cabin. The energy in the room made Allen’s head spin a bit as Kanda shut the door behind them and the woman hobbled over to a chair that sat in the middle of the room. It was largely barren, aside from shelves of ancient herbs and candles. Plants wrapped into laurels and canned tomatoes and pickles sat with a fine sprinkle of dust on them on the small table at the back of the room.

The floor of the main room, empty aside from the chair the woman perched upon was intricately carved with runes. Some, Allen recognized, most he did not. They flowed along the edges of the deep lines that seemed almost like a web or a spirograph that stretched out from where the woman sat.

“You know me?”

“I did not, aside from my visions of you.” She said, smiling, “I know you seek Cross Marion.”

“So you are the oracle.”

“You may call me Hevlaska.”

Allen swallowed, looking at her carefully. White cloth was carefully layered over her eyes and a veil hung lightly around her face, shifting with each breath. He could read nothing in her face but the soft, distant smile that danced over her lips.

“Hevlaska, do you know where I can find Cross?”

“He will come to you in a moment of crisis.”

“Um,” Allen said dumbly, “But where is he?”

Hevlaska smiled and motioned for Allen to come closer. He did, stepping over the runes and gasping as a swirling energy seemed to flow through him. He staggered and collapsed to his knees before Hevlaska who reached out to him, gently laying a hand on his forehead.

“I know it is a lot for someone like you, with a crystal living within, but bear it for a moment while I peer into your future.”

Fear surged through Allen as his magic swelled inside him, wild and unbidden. He pressed his hands to the ground, trying to keep the magic from flowing out of him. The wood at his fingers glowed softly, the fine lines carved into the grains of wood seemed to fill with light and he groaned, channeling the swirling energy inside of him out like water. Silvery light filled the grooves of wood, and Hevlaska chanted something in a language Allen could barely hear over the churning within his own body.

Behind his clenched eyes, he saw a flash of Lavi’s face, then Cross, but the colours a movements were too fast and muddled for him to make sense of it. A tear slid down his cheek unbidden. Just as fast as it all began, he felt himself snap back into his body with a gasp as Hevlaska took her hands off him and he sagged back, half collapsing on his side and panting.

“A great conflict lays ahead, young Allen.”

Allen looked up at her, feeling the surge of magic ebb, leaving him drained and confused.

“As I said, Cross will come to you in a moment of crisis, but you will face your sins and rise above. You will shatter crystal and unwind time itself. You have already begun to follow your fate. My advice to you is that you should lower the thorns around your heart. You will need it to be free and clear.”

The room was silent for a few beats as Allen swallowed, “What?”

“It is all I can say, young Allen. You will understand it when the time comes.”

Allen looked down, nodding a bit and slowly getting to his feet. He moved back out of the circle, and Lavi took his arm to help him stand, looking intensely concerned. Allen tried to smile, but that didn’t seem to set his mind at ease. Kanda strode past them, kneeling at Hevlaska’s feet.

“Please help me,” he said, his voice soft but laden with steel.

Hevlaska smiled, placing her hand on Kanda’s forehead. She chanted for a moment before she turned her face down towards Kanda, “Young Yuu, the person you seek is in grave danger. They will not appear to you as Cross will to young Allen, but your arms must free them. You walk the path of the Walker, but your goals will separate you briefly. My advice to you is to release your fear and allow fate a chance to give you what you desire.”

Kanda clenched his fists, looking up at her, “That’s it?”

“That is all I can say or know.”

Kanda nodded and stood stiffly, as if his body ached as he moved woodenly to stand beside the door. Lenalee and Lavi looked at each other.

“You may come forward,” Hevlaska said softly and after a moment, Lenalee stepped forward, kneeling before her.

Hevlaska once again laid her hand on Lenalee’s head, chanting softly.

“Young Lenalee, you are a glue. You bind together important threads, but you don’t hesitate to break them if you believe your loved ones could come to harm. Your power comes from within you, but you do not know how to summon it. You will find the happiness you seek and you will protect those you wish to protect, but my advice to you is to carefully guard yourself.”

Lenalee murmured a thank you and hurried back, looking thoughtful as Lavi hesitantly stepped forward, lowering himself to one knee.

“You know the words, do you not?” Hevlaska asked, smiling as Lavi jumped in surprise, “Sing with me.”

That drew a wry smile from Lavi, but he nodded. They chanted together, their voices mixing together in a beautiful harmony that charged itself with energy so strong Allen had to lean against the wall behind them.

Lavi swayed a bit under her touch, his body hunching then arching as they sang, before Hevlaska released him, sitting back in her chair. She considered Lavi for a few moments before she smiled, gently laying her hand on his wild hair.

“When darkness lives within half your world, everything will become clear-- the past as well as the future. Follow your heart, let it grow and give your all into nurturing it, for your love will allow you to overcome the danger you will face. Young Lavi… Let your fear go. It’s grip on you is tight, but you will survive if you barrel forward just as well as if you wait. The threads of fate meant to pull you together.”

Lavi visibly swallowed, standing slowly, “Thanks…”

The four of them stood for a moment, deep in reflection as Hevlaska stood again, walking slowly to a shelf. She retrieved an ancient copper kettle and a bundle of dried leaves, hobbling back over to the wood stove that was tucked against the wall.

“Tea, anyone?” She asked lightly, her voice sounding drained.

“Some tea would be nice,” Allen said, rubbing his forehead.

“I cannot offer you much, but I have a favour to ask you four.”

“You told our future… Any favour you ask of us is nothing,” Lenalee said earnestly, moving to help Hevlaska start a fire.

“Danger approaches me tonight. I humbly ask for your protection.”

“Danger?” Lavi bit his thumb a bit, glancing at Allen.

“Followers of those who would strip my power from me if they could, come to use my sight for evil purposes. You can win without spilling blood.”

Allen frowned, “Followers? Are they related to the person who has been chasing me?”

“That I do not know. All I ask is that you protect me for a night.”

The four of them exchanged looks, and Allen nodded to himself, turning Hevlaska with a smile, “Of course. I think between the four of us we’ll be more than able to keep you safe.”

Hevlaska smiled and poured tea into chipped cups for her guests, “I cannot see when they are coming, but I do know they will approach the front.”

Allen nodded and sipped his tea, mulling over the prophecy that Hevlaska had given him. The room settled under the pensive thoughts of its inhabitants; silent aside from the fire happily crackling away in the stove.

Allen shifted restlessly, “I’ll go keep watch from the porch.”

No one stopped him as he retreated outside to get some fresh air, frowning to himself and swirling the tea in his cup. He eased himself down onto the top stair, shaded by the overhang as the sun slowly started making its way towards it’s set. Allen didn’t look back as the front door of the cabin opened with a squeak.

Lavi sat beside Allen, drawing his eye. Allen smiled a bit, looking down and leaning their shoulders together.

It was strange, Allen mused, that it was almost hard to remember how he felt in that first week after Cross had vanished. He’d been frustrated immediately, directionless, and more afraid than he’d cared to admit. Finding Lavi, though perhaps bad for Lavi himself, had given Allen a rudder to steer the crazy journey he’d found himself on. Someone to bounce ideas off; Someone to protect.

“I’m sorry I dragged you into all of this, Lavi,” Allen said looking into his tea. Lavi just made a questioning sound; Allen saw him turn more towards Allen in his periphery. He took a sip of tea, fidgeting with his glove.

“I feel like I’ve mostly caused to trouble, but you’ve helped me a lot.”

“It’s not your fault that guy is after you. Tyki?”

Allen sighed, “Well, yeah, but… I still feel… guilty that you were caught up in the mess.”

“It’s been fun.”

Allen looked at Lavi, raising his eyebrows in disbelief. Lavi laughed softly flicking Allen between the eyes, “Don’t look so surprised. It’s been… crazy, but I’ve never felt more alive, either. I never thought I would go on an adventure like this. I’m more of the sit inside and read kinda guy. The closest I ever came to adventure before this was getting into trouble at bars.”

“Trouble at bars?”

“Mhmm, like the night we first met.”

Allen frowned, thinking that over, “I’m not sure I follow… we met at your house?”

“I guess you don’t remember; It was a while ago now,” Lavi glanced over his shoulder. Allen followed his gaze. Through the screen door he could see Hevlaska sat in her chair, facing away from the two of them, presumably to speak to Kanda and Lenalee. Allen moved to look back at Lavi questioningly, jumping as he found Lavi had leaned in. There was something electric about being so close to Lavi-- something familiar.

“Wait…” Allen frowned a bit, thinking back, “Wait, you…”

Lavi grinned, “I was surprised when you didn’t recognize me from then.”

“From the club! You stole Cross’ date’s hat. What happened? Why were those guys chasing you?”

Lavi laughed softly, rubbing the back of his neck, as he leaned back a little bit “Well, I was pretty drunk… I lipped off to some guy and he had a few friends, I guess. Thanks for putting up with me.”

“Yeah, well, I guess it was just practice for now.” They smiled at each other, leaning a little more firmly together.

“What a crazy coincidence though…” Allen said, thinking of that day. He looked down at his arm, frowning.

They sat in silence for a few moments and Allen glanced at Lavi out of the corner of his eye. Something seemed a bit off about they way Lavi held himself, about the way he kept so close yet far, at the same moment.

Lavi let out a dramatic sigh and threw his arms around Allen, leaning on him heavily, “Man the wilderness is boring, I can’t even get cell service.”

Allen let out a surprised squawk, pushing on Lavi who just got more boneless, laughing as Allen squirmed.

“Come on Lavi it’s way too hot for this.”

“You’re saying that because you’re wearing a jacket and long sleeves! Who does that on a hike in the woods.”

Allen huffed and accepted his fate, leaning against the porch railing, “I do.”

Lavi rolled his eyes, pressing his face against Allen’s shoulder and looking out at the landscape that rolled before them. They settled against each other, a breeze rustling their hair as it ran by. Allen found his hand playing with the hem of Lavi’s shirt mindlessly.

“I guess I should stay inside tonight. Leave the battle to you’n’Kanda’n’Lenalee.”

“Probably. I imagine it would be good for Hevlaska to have someone with her. Do you know how to shoot?”

“Excuse me?”

“You know, like a gun.”

Lavi raised his eyebrows, looking up at Allen, “Do I look like I know how to shoot a gun?”

“Hm, Well, you could take mine still if you promise not to friendly fire.”

“You have a gun?”

“Yes. Magic doesn’t solve everything.”

Lavi considered that, making a face, “Well… I guess it’s better than hoping for the best in case anything happens...”

“Nothing will happen,” Allen said, surprised at the heat in his own voice. Lavi looked up at him again, smiling.

“Good.”

The sun sank quickly. Allen and LEnalee stood in the shadows, eyes scanning for movement. Kanda stood just inside the cabin, listening for the signal to charge. Lavi sat with Hevlaska, hand wrapped around the butt of a gun.

Four shadowy figures emerged from the edge of shadow, stepping into the clearing. One shape stood a head and shoulders above the three that flanked him-- a looming hulk in the night. Allen licked his lips in anticipation, glancing at Lenalee. He couldn’t really see her, but he felt the vibration of determination from her. The group approached the house and Allen frowned, his left arm throbbing.

A bad sign.

Allen chewed his lip and pulled himself to his full height, stepping out into the moonlight. The other four paused. The tableau stretched on for a long moment as the wind pulled at their jackets and hair.

The hulking shadow snorted a bit, leaning back on his heels, “And just who are you supposed to be?”

“This is private property.”

A hearty laugh bubbled its way out of the man, but there was no humour to it. Allen allowed his eyes to wander to the shifting figured that stood as silent as tombs beside the man.

“You must be the brat Tyki is looking for. Suppose I’ll just have to do my job and his, the lazy fuck.”

Allen said nothing, turning slightly to the side and opening the well of power within himself.

The shadow nodded and one of the figures standing with him and before Allen could blink it was upon him. An unnatural smile caught the moonlight and blank eyes shone from behind a mask-- a glassy facsimile of consciousness. Its neck moved unnaturally, tilting too far as it swung its arm back to make contact with Allen’s raised arms.

The both slid back from the impact and Allen summoned a ball of fire to his hand, aiming it up and blasting the unnatural being as it charged him again. Light danced around it, casting its form in harsh reality-- deep black shadows etched its form. It’s skin was sallow and it didn’t breathe as it was thrown back by the flame.

“What in the name of…” Allen grit his teeth as the creature charged him again, dashing towards him the moment the flame cleared. Allen heard a whistle and jumped back as a streak of green light made contact with the creature from above-- an almost seismic energy radiating out from Lenalee as she crushed the inhuman creature beneath her boots.

The man tsked, electricity dancing around his hands, “I suppose I’ll have to take care of you myself, then.”

Chaos erupted around them. The two other shadows charged the two of them and they split, drawing them apart. Allen exhaled, hesitating for a moment before drawing magic into his left hand. It burned him, the scar on the back of his hand glowing through his glove as he threw his arm back, taking aim at the approaching creature. He heard his name being called by Lenalee, but the blood was rushing his ears, focused on the approaching danger.

The X shaped energy came out of him like a breath of air, singing as it sliced the air and made contact with the unholy smile of the creature. It was thrown back, hitting the ground like a ragdoll. Allen looked up as he heard the sound of Kanda’s sword being unsheathed, and large hands clapped onto his shoulders.

Allen gasped, looking over his shoulder but light filled his vision as electricity coursed through his body. Every muscle screamed, pulling itself tight and loose at once, and he seized up, terror gripping his chest. He fell forward, feeling a great weight around his chest and arms as he hit the ground, wheezing out an unsteady breath.

The sounds of battle filled his ears as he struggled to make his body move. Slowly, slowly he got back to his knees despite the protest of every fiber within him. Violet chains were wrapped around him, pulsing with magical energy as Kanda and Lenalee viciously attacked the unnatural creatures and their leader.

He could feel Lavi’s eyes on him, peering from behind the curtains in the window. Lenalee screamed his surprise as she was thrown, hitting the ground hard. Allen spurred himself to his feet, spotting Timcampy flying just above his head. Kanda and the shadow were locked in a deadly dance, going around and around, sparks flashing every time they made contact.

“Tim,” Allen croaked, body shaking, “Fissure.”

The golden golem grunted in delight, opening its mouth. The earth under their enemy opened enough to give Kanda an opening, and his sword found its home deep within the man’s shoulder, making him cry out as the fissure deepened. Allen raised his fist and squeezed it shut, willing the earth to close around the man’s body and it did, loosely.

He hissed and struggled, Kanda withdrawing his blade and making the man cry out. Lenalee stepped up beside Allen, pulling on the chains wrapped around him.

“Are you okay? He shocked you…”

“Yeah,” Allen said, stumbling over to the trapped man, “Are those other two things dead?”

Kanda nodded, keeping his eyes glued to their captive.

“Alright. What’s your name?” Allen said, peering at the man’s face. It was dark, but Allen didn’t recognize him as an associate of Cross, which was relieving but also annoying.

“...Skinn.” He said after a moment.

“Skin? Your name is Skin? Gross.” Kanda said, earning an irritated glare.

“Who do you work for?”

Skinn kept his mouth shut, narrowing his eyes at Allen. Allen heard the squeak of the door opening and glanced over his shoulder, seeing Lavi creep out curiously. He turned back to Skinn and examined him curiously. The chains around his chest hasn’t vanished from Allen’s person, making him frown.

“What are those things you brought?”

“Akuma.”

Allen frowned, recognizing the name but not quite placing them.

“Where is Cross Marion?”

“And why should I tell you?”

“Well, I’ll spare your life if you do,” Allen allowed an edge to his voice. He noticed the others look at him from the corner of his eye, but he kept his eyes trained on Skinn. The man snorted, turning his face away from Allen. Allen leaned forward, grabbing Skinn by the hair and pulling his head back roughly, making their eyes lock. There was a strange golden shimmer to his eyes, but Allen kept his face even.

“Tell me where he is.”

There was a beat. Skinn narrowed his eyes and Allen smiled, raising his free hand and summoning fire to engulf it-- close enough to Skinn’s face that the heat singed his hair. He said nothing, watching Skinn try to squirm inpercievably. The harsh shadows from the flames danced across Skinn’s face like a promise. Sweat started to bead on his upper lip before he tried to lean away, only to be held in place by Allen’s over hand.”

“Fine! Fine, just… put that out.”

“Tell me where he is first.”

Skinn licked his lips, “We have a hideout on the edge of LA. Cross is being held there.”

“You’re going to need to be a little more specific than that,” Allen allowed the flame to grow.

“The address is 103 Century Drive. Use a GPS, you’ll find it,” he swallowed, eyes wide and catching the firelight. His face was even except for a trembling lip. Allen stood, clenching his fist and extinguishing the flame.

“Thank you, I appreciate it.”

Skinn looked away. Allen turned to his companions with a smile that creaked across his face stiffly. There was an uneasy knot in his stomach but he pushed it down.

“Well, we have a destination now. We should tell Hev--” He stopped, blinking. Lenalee looked over her shoulder at Allen’s staring and gasped slightly in surprise.

An empty hilltop greeted them. Long, wild grass swayed in the breeze where the cabin had once stood; undisturbed. Silvery flowers seemed to sway amongst the grass, but no other trace that the oracle’s abode remained.

“I guess… She let us find her before,” Lavi said, “Maybe she needed time to move her home again.”

Allen licked his lips, frowning, “Maybe… regardless, we fulfilled our obligation, I think. We should get moving.”

“Let me go!” They all turned to Skinn as he struggled to move the earth that held him, “I told you what you wanted!”

“Hm,” Allen said, summoning a silvery mist around his hand. He lobbed it at Skinn, leaving a glittering trail in its wake as it streaked to his head. He gasped, and his eyes fell shut, his head lolling to the side.

There was a long moment of silence before Skinn released a massive snore.

“Oh my god, I thought you’d killed him,” Lavi wheezed, clutching his chest.

“What? Killed him?” Allen jumped, leaning away from Lavi, “I would never kill someone!”

“Well how was I supposed to know that!? You were so threatening and intense, like a mob boss! Or something! You totally shook him down!”

“Well of course I did, he had information I needed. I was just threatening him!”

“You did seem sincere,” Lenalee said, smiling as if she didn’t quite believe Allen.

“He needed to believe it! Should I have made it seem like I wasn’t sincere? I don’t think so,” Allen crossed his arms shaking his head to clear it. Lavi’s voice had had a tremor to it that struck Allen. He almost couldn’t bear the thought of Lavi being afraid of him.

“I would have beat the shit out of him,” Kanda said, making Lenalee laugh. He furrowed his eyebrows at her.

“Yeah, you would have.”

“Alright well the sleep spell won’t last forever. We should go,” Allen said, turning to Skinn and opening the ground just enough to allow him to dig himself free. He hoped it would be enough to give them a head start.

They stole away into the night, finding their car and pointing themselves towards Los Angeles.

Or at least, that was the intention. The hike to the cabin, the prophecies, and the battle had worn them all down to the bone. Kanda nearly drove off the road before they all agreed to park at the next truck stop for the night.

It was a desolate parking lot they’d found themselves in. One other car-- belonging to the gas station attendant, probably-- sat with theirs, huddled close to the garish building. A restaurant that claimed to have the “biggest breakfast in America” sat adjacent to the gas station, an empty husk in the late hour.

Allen sat in the back seat with Lavi, uncomfortably cramped with Kanda and Lenalee both leaning their seats back to try and sleep. Lavi leaned against the car door, nestled under a jacket with his eyes closed, but Allen had the feeling he wasn’t asleep either. Timcampy was settled on his shoulder after he had gotten fed up with Allen’s squirming.

Allen sighed, getting out of the car to stretch, being careful to shut the door as quietly as he could. A splintering picnic table sagged against the pocket of grass near their car, and Allen dragged his feet over to it, sitting with his back to the truck stop.

Allen’s eyes turned up to the stars-- slightly faded as they were with the fluorescent pollution that spilled from behind him. He found the North star, then the small dipper, smiling a bit to himself.

“Couldn’t sleep back there either?”

Lavi sat beside him, making the picnic table groan a little under their combined weight. Allen thought for a moment, holding out his hand to allow Timcampy to land on it before he looked at Lavi. The dark circles under his eyes made Allen’s heart squeeze just a little.

“Nah… it was too stuffy.”

Lavi hummed a bit, looking up at the stars as Allen had. Allen watched Lavi as he watched the sky, marvelling at the way his freckles seemed a galaxy unto themselves where they marked his skin.

“You were really scary back there, you know, but… I didn’t really think you were going to hurt that guy. I’m sorry if you thought I did.”

Allen blinked as Lavi turned his gaze back to him, “Oh, it’s… okay.”

“I wish I… could have helped you and Kanda and Lenalee more. I feel like I’m deadweight sometimes.”

“You’re not,” Allen said hurriedly, “It’s my fault you’re here at all. And that you’re in danger. You don’t need to apologize to me if you’re scared or if you can’t fight like I do. I wouldn’t have ever gotten to where I am without you.”

Lavi looked at him with an expression Allen couldn’t quite read before he smiled a bit, “You’re just sayin’ that.”

“I don’t say what I don’t mean.”

They were quiet again. Allen’s body felt as if it was full of lead. He slowly leaned more and more against Lavi, pressing their shoulders together as they looked up at the stars in comfortable silence.

“We should try to get some sleep. Big day tomorrow,” Lavi said softly, leaning in to murmur into Allen’s ear. Allen nodded, stifling a yawn. They walked back to the car, their hands brushing against each other.

The morning brought a long drive into the wealthy suburbs of LA, to the front of a stately mansion. It sat, proud but unassuming in the winding labyrinth of similarly luxurious homes.

Tim buzzed nervously in Allen’s hand, feeding off his energy as they staked out the house. There was moment inside-- it was a cloudy saturday morning-- but no one had come or gone to the house.

Kanda shifted, frowning, “Well, should we bust in?”

“In broad daylight?” Lenalee looked at him with her eyebrows raised.

“I guess. I want to break in,” He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel, watching the house intently, “I feel kind of strange.”

“Strange?” Lavi asked, leaning over the console to try and look at Kanda’s face.

“I dunno how to describe it.”

“We should wait for nightfall. We could just watch the house for now,” Lenalee said, “I’d rather not be wanted for robbery. These kinda folks would definitely call the cops and then be taken seriously by the cops.”

Kanda grumbled, leaning back in the driver’s seat. The day crawled by with the four of them sequestered behind the tinted windows of their car, watching the house. Allen frowned as the hours ticked by. Lavi fidgeted and squirmed, drawing Kanda’s ire. Much of the time was spent draining their phone batteries and listening to the radio.

Night fell without a soul coming or going into the house.

“Alright, Lavi you stay in the car. Stay in the driver’s seat and be ready to take off. We may have to come running out depending on what’s in there. Oh, and here, just in case,” Allen produced a gun from inside his jacket, spinning it around his finger with practiced ease and offering it to Lavi.

“Is that a gun?” Lenalee said in surprise, “But you have magic, why would you have a gun?”

“Well, yeah, uh, magic doesn’t solve every problem.”

Kanda grunted as Allen gave Lavi a quick rundown of how to operate the little pistol. The three got out of the car, approaching the finely manicured lawn. Allen motioned for Kanda and Lenalee to follow him, walking carefully around the side of the house. Tall bushes guarded them from prying eyes in the neighbouring house as they made their way to the back of the house.

The garden would have been beautiful in the daytime, Allen noted as he took in his surroundings. He turned his eyes to the windows, peering into the darkened home. There had been lights on earlier, but it seemed that they’d all been extinguished on the main floor.

Allen motioned for Lenalee and Kanda to hang back as he crept onto the back patio, approaching the back door and checking the lock. He furrowed his brow. He carefully picked the lock, grateful that there wasn’t a ward or alarm spell cast on the door as far as he could sense. His left arm tingled-- magic was close by, but not in the doorway.

The door swung open on well greased hinges. Allen pulled himself up to his feet as the soft footfalls of his companions joined him. They slipped into the darkened house. Kandas eyes swung around, examining every detail he could in the moonlight that spilled in from the gargantuan windows. Allen licked his lips and followed the buzz in the back of his mind.

Lenalee tapped his shoulder and he looked back, then followed the direction she pointed in with her eyes. Runes had been carved into the frame of an otherwise innocuous door-- the very same sort that Cross’ journal was fulled with. Allen’s eyes lit up and he nodded at Lenalee, moving towards the door cautiously.

His heart was pounding as he grasped the handle. The wind was knocked out of his lungs immediately and his knees shook as he felt a tug at something deep within him-- at his very core. He couldn’t move anything but his eyes, as if electricity was coursing through his body, pinning every fiber of him in place. He must have made a sound because he felt hands on his shoulders trying to pull him away.

And then the world around him was light and heat, swirling around him like a ballet of chaos. His body hit the ground and his ears rang painfully as he took a moment to fight the spinning in his mind. A metallic sound broke through the ache in his ears and he pulled himself together, eyes swimming for a moment before Kanda’s form came into focus.

His sword caught the light as he struggled to hold back the attack Tyki had leveled at him, a white star shape swirling around his hand like a shield as he relentlessly struck at Kanda.

“Al… Allen!” Lenalee’s voice was the next thing he heard and he was on his feet again. Fire fanned out along every wall he could see, devouring the house.

“I’m fine!” He called over the roar of flames.

A young girl lunged at Lenalee again, her laughter echoing unnaturally through the smoke. Lenalee snarled and leapt into the air to attack, eyes blazing. Allen tore his eyes away, swallowing.

“Tim!” The golem burst out of Allen’s pocket and turned to where Allen pointed, “Ice!”

The floor under Tyki’s feet froze for just a moment-- enough for Kanda to get an opening, pushing him back. Allen turned as heavy footsteps approached him, turning just in time to see Skinn barrelling down on him with a wild grin.

The man tackled him, sending Allen flying back before he’d had the chance to even think of a spell. He hit the ground and rolled, his head spinning for a moment before he started pushing himself back up. A boot hit him in the stomach before he got very far, knocking him into the burning wall behind him.

“Oi, Skinn, that one is mine. Come play with this fool,” Tyki said, glancing at Kanda, “I think he’s due for a little bad Karma.”

Allen could see rage fill Kanda’s eyes as Allen pushed himself to his feet. Skinn dashed across the room, immediately overwhelming Kanda with his strength.

“We need to run!” Allen yelled, forcing his body to move as Tyki turned to him, “It was a trap, we have to run, now!”

Lenalee sailed across the room, landing hard on the warping floor, sliding back and somehow remaining on her feet. The girl she was fighting laughed again, spinning a Stake shaped candle around her fingers.

“You’re right, Allen, it was a trap. A trap for a goodie two shoes little magic user like you.”

“Where is Cross?” Allen snarled, a pain in his side building from where he’d been kicked.

“Dead. Didn’t you know?”

Allen’s world tilted for a moment, but he grit his teeth, “Liar!”

An explosion rocked the house, surprising everyone in the room. Lenalee leapt forward like a torpedo, wrapping her arms around Kanda and yanking him back towards the front hall. Allen bolted after her, turning back and pointing.

“Ward! Cast a ward, Tim!”

It was up for just a moment as Lenalee kicked the front door down. He heard it shatter as they sprinted across the threshold, not daring to look back. His body felt empty in a way as he stumbled forward.

He nearly lost his footing. It seemed as if everything slowed down. The flames engulfing the house buzzed his his ears as he watched Kanda and Lenalee turn back, fear dancing across their faces. He was physically turned by a hand on his shoulder, his hair whipping wildly around his face.

The girl’s wild eyes shone gold in the moonlight as she brought the point of the stake down towards his eye. He tried to summon anything to his lips, to his hands. Wind. Fire. Sound. Anything. It was happening so fast and so slowly at the same moment. A hand shoved at his free shoulder and his head whipped to the side again with the impact, seeing Lavi’s red hair.

He was raising the gun, looking up at the girl as she plunged the stake into his eye in Allen’s place. Allen felt a scream of surprise-- of terror-- bubble up to his lips as the gun went off, forcing the girl to retreat. Tyki was rushing through the door, as Lavi fell back, clutching at his wound.

And then for Allen, the world became white. White, hot, and furious. He remembered this feeling. His arm burned as he gathered his magic around it. The light faded as magic he didn’t know he had welled up, as if a dam had burst within him.

He bolted forward at the first form he could see-- Tyki, he was pretty sure-- thrusting his arm forward and unleashing a barrage of attacks. The solid magic that had formed around his arm resembled knives almost; They left streaks of white light in the air as he attacked.

His body was moving without much imput as rage burned through him. He heard the klang of metal that meant Kanda was by his side. He heard Lenalee’s cry as she launched herself towards the battle.

A rippling wave of magic appeared between the trio of warriors and their targets just before contact. It wrapped around them and Allen felt his body being lifted and swept away. He looked down, barely noting the sprawling landscape that stretched below them-- lights twinkling like stars below-- swirling his his mind like galaxies until he saw Lavi’s face.

They were on the ground in another moment. Allen scrambled to Lavi’s fallen from where it lay on the grass. He’d never been much of a healer, but he pulled the stake free and bent over Lavi, pouring every ounce of energy he could into his hands.

The panic in his mind was deep-- worse than anything he’d experienced-- and irrational. His breathing was ragged as Lavi’s flesh slowly began to knit itself back together.

“I’m sorry Lavi,” He heard himself babble, “I didn’t protect you, why did you do that? Please, Lavi, be okay, please.”

The redhead laid still and Allen pitched forward, spent and trembling from overexertion.

“Pathetic.”

Allen raised his eyes slowly, half expecting to see another enemy. Before him, stood Cross. He brushed some ash off his black coat, taking a long drag on his cigarette before blowing it into the air.

“What the fuck were you thinking, walking into such an obvious trap. Idiot.”

“C...Cross…?”

Allen wasn’t certain if he was hallucinating or if Cross was really there. He dimly heard Kanda scolding Lenalee and tending to a wound she had, but his eyes were trained on his teacher. Cross walked around Lavi and pulled on Allen’s shoulders with surprising gentleness, laying him on his back.

“Fucking idiot,” He sighed, pushing Allen’s hair out of his eyes and moving to treat his burns, “what are you even doing here?”

“I had to find you…”

Cross shook his head, “Sleep. We’ll discuss this when you’re not half-dead from burning through nearly all your magic.”

“Don’t leave again,” Allen voice rang pathetically in his ears; He was glad Lavi wasn’t awake to hear it.

“I won’t, just go to sleep,” Cross petted Allen’s bangs back again, the sour look on his face not reaching up to his eye. Allen let his eyes close after a moment, hoping that Cross wouldn’t break his promise.

When Allen roused from his dreamless sleep, he was on a bed. His eyes were still closed, but he heard the soft sound of someone breathing and the ticking of a clock. His body ached as if he’d run a marathon and been hit by a truck, but he pushed himself up to sit slowly.

He was sitting on the pull out couch-bed of what looked to be an extremely expensive hotel-- one that he had the sneaking suspicion had been paid for with whatever was left in his wallet, if Cross had found it. Allen wrinkled his nose and looked to his left, seeing a mop of red hair sticking out from under the blanket beside him.

Allen smiled a bit, moving to pull the blanket down. Bulky bandages covered half of Lavi’s face, but he looked peaceful in his sleep. His hair was sticking up in every possible direction, and Allen moved to smooth some of it down gently.

It seemed like Lavi had gotten a few burns in the explosion as well, but they’d been hastily healed, the skin a shiny, angry red still. Allen frowned, tracing his fingers over the scars on Lavi’s shoulder. He hadn’t remembered healing anything on Lavi aside from his eye, but his magic had been so wild and uncontrolled that he’d probably done it. He dreaded to see what laid under the bandages on his face. Maybe Cross had cleaned up his mess.

Lavi shifted, rolling onto his side as he scrunched up his face. He mumbled something, pushing the blanket down and peaking open his eye to squint at Allen.

“Ah, Sorry, did I wake you?” Allen’s eye followed the movement. Lavi grunted. An oddly shaped mark caught Allen’s eye and he leaned in a little wondering if it was a bruise. Just under Lavi’s collarbone sat a mark that looked as if it’d been painted onto his skin-- it was a mask with a crown set just above the eyes. Allen looked at it for a moment before the world around him narrowed to that little mark on Lavi’s chest. He could hear his heart pounding in his ears; he could feel fear tangle itself up in his chest. It was his mark on Lavi’s skin. He touched the mark with shaking fingers and it felt as if his heart was squeezed in a vice.

A gentle hand covered his and Allen crashed back into reality, slowly looking up at Lavi’s face. Lavi’s face was guarded. His hand felt cold on Allen’s, and he glanced away as Allen met his eyes.

“... You knew?” Allen managed to choke out.

Lavi nodded.

“Why didn’t you…”

“You said you didn’t want to meet me.”

Lavi’s voice shook and it broke Allen’s heart. He swallowed, looking down and wrestling with the storm that swirled in his chest. He was afraid-- afraid to be vulnerable like this, afraid to open himself up to someone, afraid to love and be loved. He looked away,chewing on his lip. He could feel uncertainty fighting with the warmth in his chest.

But he trusted Lavi. Lavi who had been by his side from the beginning of the journey to find Cross. Lavi who’d been dragged across the country and had his life upended. Lavi who had his mark.

“When did you realize…?”

“Just… um… on the train. Er… when we ran away from the train,” Lavi sat up slowly. Allen’s hand stayed on his chest; he could feel the way Lavi’s heart pounded anxiously in his chest.

“I’m sorry.”

They both looked up at the same time, locking eyes. He’d felt attracted to Lavi before-- his smile, the way it felt natural to lean their shoulders together-- but it was different now. It was like he knew he couldn’t breathe without him. He felt his heart unclench a bit, felt it relax a little as he looked at Lavi’s face-- giant bangages and all.

Lavi smiled, reaching up after a moment to slowly cup Allen’s face like he had the first night they’d met. Allen let out a shaky breath, leaning into it and letting his eyes slide shut. He felt Lavi shift on the bed and he slowly pulled Allen into his arms-- hesitant, as if Allen was going to bolt if he moved to fast.

Part of Allen did want to run away screaming. It was all too much. He’d hated the idea of having a soulmate for so long, even before the mark appeared on his arm. The way people pined after them was intolerable to him. But laying there in Lavi’s arms-- when had Lavi laid him down?-- trembling and holding onto him for dear life, it was different. It was like he’d been drowning all his life and had finally gotten a breath of air.

“What… are you thinking?” Lavi’s voice was soft and hesitant.

“I’m thinking Kanda was right. I didn’t know what I was talking about.”

He could feel Lavi smile, somehow, holding Allen a little tighter, “My family… my clan… we had magic. I remember being a little kid when… my mark appeared. Three maybe? It was on Christmas day,”

Allen looked up at Lavi, peeking through his bangs. Lavi shifted so they could lean their foreheads together.

“That day… your birthday, I guess?” Allen nodded, “My grandfather took me aside and told me that… that our family had no use for soulmates. And he… I never learned how to do it because I never had any magical ability, but he suppressed my soulmark.”

“I’ve never heard of anything like that…”

“It was something our family developed. But that’s not important, since they’re all dead anyway,” There was pain in Lavi’s voice, but he didn’t linger, “It reappeared on the day he died, because I didn’t have any magic to keep it going. I was-- it was weird, I…”

Lavi trailed off, gazing into Allen’s eyes for a moment like he was lost for words.

“You…?”

“It was the strangest day of my life. I’d almost forgotten I had a soulmate, you know? So the day I lost him, it was like someone was reaching out to me. Telling me they were with me when I was alone in my grief. It was the only thing that made me feel better about it,” Lavi stroked Allen’s face like he was something precious, “Knowing that I’d meet you someday gave me so much hope.”

Allen flushed, looking away, “Sappy.”

Lavi laughed and pulled Allen closer, as if he was trying to press them together so tightly they’d merge into one person.

“Sorry, I guess you don’t like that stuff if you didn’t like… the idea of a soulmate…” Lavi hesitated again, running his hand over Allen’s shoulder, “You… um… what do you think now? About… this, I guess.”

Allen frowned, looking down at the mark on Lavi’s chest. It looked beautiful there, nestled against his collarbone, surrounded by freckles. He brushed his fingers against it again, contemplating the question.

“I… don’t know. I liked you, before I saw this. I think. Um… I don’t know what to think?”

“Why did you hate the idea so much?”

Allen hesitated, but the ache in his chest at the idea of lying to Lavi broke down his resolve. He sighed, turning his face a bit more into the pillow as if he could hide.

“I didn’t have a mark either. I guess your grandfather’s magic suppressed my mark too, because I didn’t know I had one at all. As I grew up… people… they’d-- well um, they’d ask me things like, “Oh aren’t you excited? What’s your soulmate’s name?” and it always just made me feel… like… like I didn’t deserve it? Because I didn’t have it. A-and when I lost my dad people who didn’t know would just… they’d…”

Allen swallowed the lump in his throat as Lavi stroked his hair, waiting for him to be ready to talk again. Everything was spilling out of him, things he’d never told anyone, things he’d hardly even realized himself. Lavi just listened to it all.

“They’d say that I wasn’t alone, because I’d find… my soulmate and it just made me so angry. They didn’t know that I was alone. They just decided things for me based on what they knew. I hated it.”

Allen hid his face in Lavi’s neck, not wanting to see the pity that must have been written on his face. Lavi just rubbed his back soothingly, holding Allen close. There was a long stretch where Lavi just traced senseless patterns Allen’s skin.

“I’m sorry, Allen. I’m so sorry,” He said softly, making Allen shake his head.

“It wasn’t your fault,” Part of Allen wanted to be angry about it, but he just couldn’t, not really.

“I know, I know, I just… I wish it’d been simpler. I wish we hadn’t hurt because of some backwards tradition my family had. I wish we’d just… met on a beach somewhere and kissed in the sunlight and then had ice cream or something.”

Allen blinked, leaning back to look at Lavi’s face “That’s… specific…”

Lavi went a bit red, “uh… I uh… well, that… I read it in a book once and it just! Seemed right for me! Because it’s on my chest and all…”

“Sappy.”

Lavi huffed a bit, wrinkling his nose at Allen, who laughed quietly. They laid there together, just looking at each other for a few moments. Sunlight streamed through the gauzy curtains, falling on Lavi’s hair and catching the red and gold and orange of it, as if he was crowned by flames. It took Allen’s breath away. Lavi leaned in close, watching Allen’s face carefully, looking for any hesitation. Allen swallowed, his heart pounding as Lavi got closer.

“Well… we’re not on a beach but… could I still kiss you, maybe? We’ve got sunlight, at least.”

Allen nodded, that last little bit of uncertainty in his heart wilting as he closed the distance between himself and Lavi, pressing their lips together. It was like nothing existed past the two of them. Allen wrapped his arms around Lavi’s neck. His mind raced and yet was blank. He felt the way Lavi held him desperately, as if Allen would turn to smoke and leave him alone.

The taste of Lavi on his tongue was intoxicating; Allen could have laid there for the rest of his life and never gotten bored of it. The tiny part of his brain that was still logical told him it was just the soulmate magic making him think that, but he ignored that, tangling his fingers in Lavi’s hair and revelling in how soft it was.

The sound of someone clearing their throat made them both jump and break apart, panting a little. Allen’s back was to the door and he didn’t want to turn around.

“So glad to see you’re both feeling better,” Cross said in such a way that implied he was not particularly happy to see them both feeling better. Lenalee giggled. Allen silently wished for the floor to open up and swallow him whole.

“Are you two done sucking face because we have important shit to do.”

“I dunno,” Lavi said in a lazy drawl, “I could probably stand to keep sucking face.”

“Lavi!”

Cross barked out a laugh at Allen’s scandalized scolding and tossed some pre-made wraps from the grocery story onto the bed, “Shut up and eat. Oi! Stupid hair come out of the bedroom already.”

Allen realized with horrible clarity that Kanda had been in the hotel suite the whole time-- sequestered away in the bedroom side that did not have much sound proofing and that he’d probably heard every word. Allen wondered what floor of the hotel they were on as Kanda walked out, looking less than impressed.

“Alright idiots, now that you’ve inserted yourself into my business he’s what we’re going to do.”

Cross sat down and took a bite of food, flicking his hand and producing a spectral floor plan that floated in the air. It looked like the map he’d left for Allen. Lavi’s hand found it’s way into Allen’s as they sat on the couch-bed, sheepish.

“This is the layout of the actual hideout of the Noah Clan, rather than a disgustingly obvious trap that a toddler could have spotted,” He glanced at Allen who frowned, “We’re going to be infiltrating it and destroying the crystal they have.”

“Crystal?” Lenalee said, looking at the blueprints curiously.

“Mn, they have a large artificial crystal. It’s literally sucking the life out of the world or whatever so we’re going to smash it and run.”

“Sucking the life out of the world?” Kanda frowned.

“That’s what I said.”

“What does this artificial crystal do exactly?” Allen had much more patience for Cross’ briskness than Kanda did.

“It’s kinda like you, it’s kinda like Timcampy. Timcampy absorbs all the magic he takes in and expels it out on command,” The little golden golem fluttered around Cross’ head in delight, “It’s kinda like you in that it is a crystal, rather it was made from someone like you and enlarged by absorbing the power of other crystal type mages and the world at large.”

“Crystal type mage?” Lenalee said, brow furrowed.

“Yes,” Allen said, a little hesitant, “when the magic in the world was more plentiful, more people could use the magic around them, but people like Cross and I have magical wells inside of us that we can draw on to cast, rather than going outwardly to cast. Master calls those internal wells “crystals”.”

“When you rip them out of someone in just the right way, that’s what they look like.”

Allen squirmed uncomfortably, “so how do they have an artificial one?”

“It’s too complicated to tell you all the details, but simply put they use a conduit who has a crystal to keep it alive and it keeps vacuuming up magic while being powered by that poor soul. Probably what they wanted you for.”

Kanda stood ramrod straight at that, frowning, “So they… just kidnap mages then?”

“Mhmn…”

“You think they took Alma then?” Lenalee asked, worried.

“That guy said something about Karma. I if he saw Alma’s name on my wrist, maybe he realized that they’re my soulmate.”

“I haven’t seen the conduit they have right now, but if they’re still alive we will save them. Wouldn’t want them to have someone to make a new crystal out of right away anyway.”

“What happens if someone’s crystal is pulled out?”

“Hm? Oh, the mage dies. Anyway I’m not here to be interrogated about shit Allen can tell you, I’m here to tell you what to do.” Cross flipped his hair over his shoulder. Allen sighed, pretty certain that Cross was living for the horrified looks on everyone else’s face.

“So, you to have magical items right? I’ll fix them up so they’re not the amateurish garbage I saw you two with. You will be creating a distraction so Allen and I can infiltrate together. Brat, this place is trapped to hell and back so we’re going to enter from two sides to keep the house from blowing up in our faces. I’ll show you the dispelling magic again but you should already know how to do it. Once we shatter the crystal, you two will split up and come to mine and Allen’s entry points as we run and we’ll all get the fuck out of there.”

“What about me?” Lavi drew Cross’ gaze.

“Uh… what can you do aside from get stabbed in the eye?”

“Cross!”

“What, I’m not the one who has a useless boyfriend.”

Allens face burned as he crossed his arms, “Lavi isn’t useless.”

“Yeah yeah I’m sure his dick is fantastic or whatever. What value does he bring to the table in this plan.”

Allen sputtered, “I haven’t even-- That-- He, um! Well--”

“Right, so nothing. He can stay in the hotel room. Or he can fuck off and go home because we’re leaving once we’re done with the crystal.”

“Leaving? I’m going with Allen, if he wants me to go.”

Cross raised his eyebrow as Allen looked at Lavi. There was a tense silence from Cross as he watched the two for a split second. He leaned back in his chair and groaned.

“Oh my god, don’t tell me this fool is your soulmate, Allen.”

“Hey, don’t call him a fool!”

“You had to go and find him now of all times? I don’t want to deal with this, fuck.”

Kanda sneered and crossed his arms, turning away from the two of them. Lenalee put her hand on Kanda’s shoulder but he shook her off.

“Great okay well he can stay back since, like I said, useless. Can’t even fire a gun right.”

“Surely I can do something…” Lavi seemed a little miffed to be the odd one out.

“I don’t have time to make some enchanted weapon for you to not know how to use properly. I think you seem to not be realizing how fucking dangerous this is going to be. That trap they laid for you is going to seem like a walk in the park if things go wrong.

“Maybe it is better for you to stay back… you were supposed to stay back last time and you still got hurt,” Allen fidgeted with the blanket.

“Well I… I saw what was going to happen if I didn’t. I had to help you.”

“You saw it?” Allen frowned a bit and Lavi glanced to the side.

“It was kind of like that time on the train… I knew something was going to happen. I saw the way she… would have stabbed you and it would have killed you. I had to do something.”

“Does your family have any divination in it, Lavi? It almost sounds like you’re… maybe a bit like Hevlaska?”

“Eh? Not that I know of, but I didn’t really know my parents… Maybe I do. As far as I know every single Bookman has been a cagey bitch, but maybe that was just Gigi.”

Cross rubbed his chin, “Bookman eh? I thought some of your lot were seers and oracles, but I don’t know much about it. Perhaps you’re leeching off Allen’s magic rather than regular ambient magic now, if you couldn’t do any magic before.”

“Oh, probably,” Lavi said, scratching under his bandage a little.

“If you try to predict some things that could happen, we be able to prepare,” Allen said.

“We don’t have much time,” Cross said, looking thoughtful, “but some prophecy might help us. Lenalee, please get a bowl of water for him.”

Allen rolled his eyes at the polite way Cross spoke to Lenalee, but said nothing. Lavi shifted to sit cross legged, reaching his hands up as Lenalee came over with the bowl.

“Shouldn’t I be using a crystal ball or something?” He asked dryly.

“Do I look like the kind of person to just have a crystal ball for no reason, asshole? Get your own later.”

Lavi sighed, looking down at the bowl of water.

Cross narrowed his eyes, “you know what to do?”

“I think so…” Lavi said, dipping a finger into the water and swirling it around the edge, making the water spin in a lazy circle. Lavi watched it, his eye going hazy and unfocused looking as he did. The water shimmered with images Allen couldn’t quite catch or understand, but Lavi seemed to watch the ephemeral images like he was watching a movie.

His hands started to shake as he looked, clenching his jaw and his knuckles going white as he clutched the porcelain. Allen touched his shoulder gently and Lavi sucked in a breath, jerking his head back and closing his eyes.

“Ha… oh god…”

“What did you see?” Lenalee asked, eyes wide.

“I… I’m not sure… There was a lot of fire… I saw… a person with a scar wrapped in light… I saw a pool of liquid they could not escape. I saw a blinding green light? It was overwhelming, like I couldn’t see past it. Things were changing too fast. I saw the end, but the beginning as well.”

Allen and Cross exchanged a look as Kanda clenched his fists, “What did the person with a scar look like?”

“Um… Dark hair? Their body was changing.”

“I’m going in with you. I don’t care what you say, I’m not just standing outside.”

“Kanda we do need a distraction--,” Allen started to say but the look Kanda pinned on him stilled his words.

“I’m going in.”

“Then go in through the front. Your distraction can be you cutting your way through the front door while Allen and I go in the back way. If you get all the way in, save your soulmate, if not, hope we do it.”

The two stared each other down and Allen sighed, rubbing his face, “Kanda, I promise you we won’t leave without Alma. If they’re in there, I’ll get them out, personally.”

Kanda looked at Allen slowly, narrowing his eyes. Allen understood the hurricane that must have been swirling in Kanda’s chest. The pain he must feel, not knowing where Alma was or if they were okay. Of not feeling like he could do anything. Seeing Lavi injured had evoked all of that within him in just a few seconds.

Kanda tsked and turned away, going into the bedroom and slamming the door behind himself.

“Sorry about him… he’s much nicer when Alma is around. But it really does sound like we can save Alma too, right? So… all of this will have been worth it,” Lenalee smiled a little, looking at the door.

The next few days were a flurry of activity. Allen had never worked much with enchanted items, but he and Cross reenchanted the items. They’d move faster, take more hits, and being in such a magic rich-area, they’d be even stronger, or so Cross claimed.

Allen didn’t know what to think. Any time he let his guard down, he found himself seeking Lavi out. The pull to him was unsettling-- as if his body moved against his will, or maybe it was his will moving his body against his own good sense. It was hard to think about the preparations to be made for the coming battle and resist the urge to curl up against Lavi’s side.

It made him wonder at the power of soulmate magic. What had drawn their souls together before they’d even been born? How did it know Lavi would be the way he was; that the way he smiled would be a salve to Allen’s mind; that the way he felt when their fingers laced together would make his knees shake?

It was all too much for Allen. Lavi didn’t confront him on it-- he let Allen circle him like a moth tempted by a flame that it was fearful of. He just smiled and wrapped an arm around his shoulders when Allen appeared beside him. Their last night before the execution of their plan found Allen curled up in Lavi’s arms, forgetting his anxiety till the morning.

The drive to the hideout on the edge of the California desert was a tense one. Allen’s request to turn on the radio was met with an emphatic fuck you, which was like, cool, or whatever. Allen leaned his head on Lavi’s shoulder sulkily, annoyed he’d been designated as the middle of the back seat rider because Lenalee was a couple centimetres taller than him.

Fear churned in Allen’s gut like a storm. He had a bad feeling about everything, but he wasn’t sure if it was his anxiety or his intuition. Lavi wrapped an arm around his shoulder and Allen settled a little.

Cross parked the car and looked back, wrinkling his nose at the display, “Ugh, I’d rather throw up than see you two cuddling. Cut that shit out.”

Allen rolled his eyes and didn’t move, earning a smack from Cross but no further comment. The sun was beginning to set over the desert and Cross cracked the front window, lighting a cigarette.

“At sundown we’ll make our move. You kids think you’re ready?”

“We’re not children, Cross, we can do this.”

“You say that but you’re the biggest brat I know.”

Kanda just got out of the car, stretching his legs. Allen sighed and rubbed the back of his neck as Lavi rubbed his shoulders gently. The last dregs of sunlight lingered in the sky-- brilliant streaks of orange and red that faded into the void of inky sky above them-- as the rest of them climbed out of the car.

Lavi took Allen’s hand, looking into his eyes seriously as Cross walked over to stand beside Lenalee and Kanda. Lavi cupped Allen’s face with one big hand, leaning their foreheads together as they were partially hidden by the car.

“Stay safe, okay? If you need to run, don’t try and be brave, just come back to me. We’ve only just met, you know?”

Allen was a little overwhelmed by the way Lavi looked into his eyes-- the raw fear in his eye made him glance away.

“I’m not going anywhere. Trust me.”

“I do, but just in case,” Lavi leaned in and pressed a firm kiss to Allen’s lips before he could protest. Allen melted into it, and pulled back after a moment, giving Lavi a wobbly smile.

“Don’t worry so much. We can figure everything out after this, okay?”

Lavi nodded, but didn’t look so sure. Allen turned his head to kiss Lavi’s palm as he stepped away, holding his hand until their fingers slipped apart. Lavi got into the driver’s seat of the car and Allen stood beside Cross, looking down the hill at the bunker.

They looked at each other and nodded, heading off in pairs. Allen and Cross split again, leaving Allen alone and waiting for the signal from Cross to start. The stone in his hand pulsed with electricity as Cross said it would, Allen broke the window he was beside, climbing into the building. The sounds of battle from just around the corner-- from where Lenalee and Kanda were frightened Allen a bit-- it was so fast.

He pressed on, creeping through the hall, dispelling the magic on every door he could find as he made his way through the floorplan Cross had meticulously taken him through. Every door, every tile was in place.

Footsteps echoed around the corner and Allen froze, listening to the unhurried pace. A shambling man came around the corner, turning down the corridor away from Allen and making his way down it without a glance over his shoulder. Allen recognized the way it held itself from his battle with Skinn and had no intention of engaging the guard, slipping down the corridor it had come from.

Allen found the staircase, making his way downwards towards the depths of the bunker. The thickness of magic in the air made his hair stand on end and his mind feel almost drunk. He got to the small control room that Cross had described to him and prayed that cross had gotten into position already. An observation window peered down into the huge main room from behind two way mirrors.

Allen crept over, peering down curiously. The room stretched down into the earth at least two stories from where Allen stood in the observation room. An absolutely massive crystal rose out of the ground like a green tower, the sharp point of it just a little lower than level with the window. It pulsated with electric green energy that crackled with strain within the rock. Magic, in its purest and most concentrated form. It looked toxic.

At the foot of the tower there was a shimmering pool in a ring around it, like a moat. Allen gulped and pressed the only button on the control panel he’d recognized. The door outside opened to a torrent of flame and smoke that billowed into the room. Cross sprinted into the room as Allen slammed his fist on the button to close the door again. Three akuma managed to get in despite his efforts and he could see Cross curse and glance up at the observation window.

Allen swallowed and summoned some lightning into his palm, slamming it down on the console. Smoke and the smell of burning plastic immediately began to fill the room as Allen pulled his hand back. A handprint was imbedded into the console, but it didn’t last long as flame started licking the casing from the inside. Three gunshots rang from inside the main chamber and Allen inhaled, backing up and sprinting at the observation window.

He leapt up, covering his face as his body made contact with the glass and the sound of battled rushed into his ears. One of the akuma lay lifeless on the ground in front of Cross as he fired at the other, ignoring the shattering of glass from the floor above.

Time seemed to move slowly for Allen as he pointed his palm at the ground, unleashing a blast of air to slow his fall. It wasn’t very controlled-- his hand shook more than he’d expected and he landed hard, skidding to the edge of the moat and teetering on the edge.

 

“Allen!” He heard Cross shout at him, half turning towards him as two hands shot out of the moat and pulled him off balance and into the shimmering liquid.

The sound of fire and gunshots were muted by the liquid. It wasn’t water; it was thick and Allen’s body immediately felt lethargic as he was enveloped by it. The hands started wrapping around his throat from behind as Allen was dragged down, down, down into the moat, despite his struggle.

Allen clawed at the hands around his throat-- they squeezed at him as if trying to get him to open his mouth from the pressure. He felt the body behind him get closer, felt lips just barely brushing his ear as he fought the hands holding him.

“You’ll do just fine… can you feel the power of it yet? Can you feel the world’s magic at your fingertips? Breathe it in, Mage.”

The words didn’t echo or distort under the heavy liquid-- a byproduct of the crystal?-- it was as if they’d been whispered directly into Allen’s mind. His lungs burned as he struggled to hold his breath, looking over his shoulder slowly.

Everything was blurry-- obscured by the weight of the magic and his desperate need for oxygen-- but he saw dark hair and steely eyes that started at him vacantly. Panic flooded Allen as he looked at the-- the creature that held him and again, he pointed his palm down-- was it down? He’d lost track, but he couldn’t hesitate-- and summoned ice to his hand. The liquid seemed to amplify the magic wildly and Allen nearly gasped as he rocketed upwards with the force of his own magic.

The creature clung to him tightly as they shattered the surface of the ooze. Allen threw himself towards the safety of the floor below, sucking in half a breath before the hands around his throat clamped back down. Allen’s hands scrabbled at the ground, desperately trying to pull himself away. Fear and adrenaline was clouding his mind as his vision started to dim again.

A gunshot shattered the fog in his mind. The hands vanished from his throat and he sucked in a breath, the sound and smell of the world crashing back as he pushed himself up.

“What the fuck did you fish out of there,” Cross said, staring at the creature who stood as if it were a marionette hanging from loose strings.

“I-I don’t know…” The liquid had left a film on Allen that clung to his skin even as he tried to rub his hands together.

“Don’t you want endless power? Come back into the pool, I’ll show you how to get it.”

Their lips didn’t move as they spoke, but Allen started getting a sinking feeling. A wide grin split their face, their eyes vacant. A tear welled up and slide down their cheek, almost invisible in the harsh, greenish light of the crystal tower.

“A-Alma?” Allen called, his voice shaking with uncertainty.

Their smile faltered a bit, “Don’t call me that name.”

Then in a flash, they had closed the distance between themself and Allen, drawing a surprised gasp from him. Cross fired at the Conduit who flicked their eyes over to Cross for a split second. Allen’s left fist slammed into Alma’s cheek, magic swirling around his whole arm. The density of the magic in the air made Allen’s head spin-- though he might also be suffering the after-effects of being choked, he thought.

His body was chasing after Alma immediately, throwing a blast of ice from his right hand as energy continued to build in his left. It burned his skin from the inside, but as Alma lunged at him, body swinging woodenly, Alma’s strikes couldn’t get within an inch of his arm as he blocked.

Cross fired another shot to give Allen an opening and he dimly realized that Cross must either be low on bullets or be saving them for a bigger threat than Alma.

“We need to sever the bond between them and the crystal!” Cross called over the roar of flame and magic.

Allen barely heard him as the conduit wrapped their arms around Allen, pinning their bodies together and dragging him back towards the moat.

“Y’think you could? I’m a little busy!”

Allen swung his head back then shot it forward, catching Alma in the nose and leaping back as they instinctively let go of him, dodging back and glancing at Timcampy. Allen grit his teeth.

“Tim! Let’s bring some hell!”

The golem perked up and opened his mouth. Allen had barely stumbled back before weeks worth of spelled poured out of Timcampy in rapid fire succession. Alma got lost in the smoke and chaos to Allen’s eye, but Tim stayed trained on his target. Fear gripped Allen’s heart at the idea of going back into the pool-- at the idea that he might not resist the sweet words whispered into the core of his mind. Magic thrummed in Allen’s blood as he stood just behind Tim, watching for the moment that Alma dodged to the side. He hoped they’d get trapped under the onslaught of spells-- perhaps caught in ice.

A hand reached out from the smoke directly in front of Timcampy, wrapping around his little, round body and snapping his mouth shut.

“A futile effort. Please, little mage, come with me. This creature is not true strength.”

“Tim!” Allen cried, watching in horror as the golem was hurled at the ground, hitting it with a snap.

Allen lunged forward, fury in his heart as he swung his fist at Alma. His reckless charge was met with laughter as Alma danced back, dodging his stikes as if they meant nothing. As if Allen were a child, slapping a his sibling. Alma spun as Allen pulled back to recover, landing a crushing blow to his gut.

It happened so fast-- Allen was on his feet and then he wasn’t, hurtling across the room and landing with a sickening thud on the stone floor. He groaned, hearing gun shots as he tried to push himself up.

“Allen!” Lavi’s voice shattered the chaos in Allen’s mind and he looked up, seeing Kanda, Lenalee, and Lavi leaping through the observation window. Fear gripped his heart. Alma had no limit, they would destroy all of them without blinking an eye.

“Run! Get out of here!” He called, his voice cracking and getting lost in the din of battle.

Lenalee landed on the ground hard, setting the other two down and jumping back as Lavi stepped forward, a blast of ice just barely grazing his shirt. Almas laughter echoed through the room, drawing a tortured look to Kanda’s face as Lavi barely dodged another blast.

“I see it,” Lavi said, his voice calm, “Just follow me and attack where I tell you to.”

Kanda nodded, bolting after Lavi, going in a wide berth around the spells slung between Cross and Alma.

Allen’s body screamed in pain as he pushed himself up to his feet, watching a blast of fire graze the bandages of Lavi’s face as he pointed to a blank spot in the chaos. Kanda’s blade sang as it cut through the air, making contact with something-- it shimmered to life, a ghastly purple cord that reached from deep within the artificial crystal, tethering Alma to it.

Violet threads wrapped around every inch of Alma, forcing their body to move. They convulsed and screamed in agony, turning from Cross to attack Kanda. Lenalee lunged between them, slamming her boot into the middle of Alma’s chest and knocking them back as Lavi peeled back from Kanda, turning to Allen.

The last of Lavi’s bandages fell to the ground as he turned and Allen’s body tensed as he saw it. The sclera of Lavi’s eye had become an inky black-- as if it was just a void in Lavi’s skull rather than an actual eye. A milky green iris seemed to float within in, flicking back and forth independently of Lavi’s other eye.

“Brat, I have three left! Go!” Cross called, drawing Allen’s gaze. Lavi was already moving through the battlefield, stepping in exactly the right places to avoid every blow, every blast of flame or lightning, every wave of ice.

Allen pushed the thought from his mind, reaching deep within himself and finding his magic. His Crystal. He ran forward, building magic in both his arms as Cross took aim, eye trained to Allen.

He pointed his palm to the floor, feeling a hand on his back just as he blasted himself upwards. He heard the first gunshot as he pulled his left fist back. He felt his magic hum inside him, welling up and overflowing as he guided it to his arm. He heard the second gunshot as he saw the weak spot-- the plume of magic pouring out from where Cross’ bullet had found its home. He heard the third gunshot as he throw his shoulder forward, seeing the bullet crack the crystal as he made contact.

Silver light poured out his his hand as the crystal buckled under the weight of his attack. A fine web of cracks bloomed over the surface of the crystal tower and for a moment, Allen was terrified the tower would hold, even after Cross had peppered it with bullets. A scream of rock against rock shook the room and shards of crystal began to split from each other, a glow rumbling from within.

Light enveloped him. He was aware of the sensation of being thrown back with the force of magic spilling free. He could tell he was falling, but he was distracted by a spray of red and a pain in his cheek. He wasn’t sure if it was so loud that the howling rush of magic had deafened him, or if there truly was no sound around him. He fell through the light for a moment before he felt two arms wrap around him and his world turned from light to dark.

He slowly became aware of a soft beeping. His eyes were closed, but his mind was just roused enough to start being aware. The soft haze he found himself in was comfortable, but confusing.

He forced his heavy eyes open, feeling as if his body was pressed between the mattress and box spring instead of on top of them. Sunlight spilled in through the window and cut across his legs. Lavi was sitting in the chair beside the bed, reading a book and absently stroking Allen’s hair.

“Nnngh…” Allen closed his eyes again, scrunching up his face and feeling the pull of a healing cut.

He heard the sound of Lavi shutting his book and moving to sit on the edge of the bed, “awake yet?”

“I’d rather I wasn’t,” Allen’s voice sounded slurred to himself.

“That’s not a very heroic thing to say after saving the world.”

Allen opened his right eye, raising his eyebrows at Lavi, “Save the world?”

“Or near enough anyway,” Lavi smiled, adjusting his eyepatch, “We didn’t realize it, but the world was starting to die. When all that magic was rushing past I… I saw everything. Everything that could have been, or would have been, or was. Just for a second. I don’t really understand it all, but you saved us.”

“So... it worked? Magic isn’t being hoarded anymore?”

Lavi nodded, stroking Allen’s head. Allen groaned a bit as he shifted over, patting the bed invitingly. Lavi smiled, lowering himself to Allen’s side and looking at him.

“The news has been goin’ crazy. No one has really figured out what happened yet as far as we can tell. Cross said it was better that way, less scrutiny when you’re not famous. There’s already some new magic colleges popping up, though. Might be cool to teach it someday, eh?”

“I don’t think I’m smart enough for that.”

Lavi laughed, leaning their foreheads together carefully, “Probably true. Anyone who would pull a stunt like you did probably shouldn’t be around impressionable young minds.”

“Yeah a stunt that saved the world, as you said.”

“Mn, my point kinda stands. Maybe be a guest lecturer in their punching something so hard they changed the world class.”

Allen laughed, wrapping his arm around Lavi. It was black now, he noted. He couldn’t really feel it all that well as he settled it around Lavi. Nerve damage, probably.

“How long have I been out?”

“Couple days. Doctor said you got overloaded. Cross figures that makes sense when three quarters of the worlds magic pours over you all at once.”

“Mmm.. how’s Alma?”

Lavi hesitated, “... Healing. It’ll take some time before they’re alright again. Yuu will take good care of them though.”

“Timcampy?”

“Getting repairs. Cross said he’d do it before you woke up, but I think he has been drunk the last two whole days.”

"The Noah?"

"Lenalee and Kanda beat a couple within an inch of their lives and they're in custody now. There's an investigation into finding the rest of them by the feds."

“You?”

“Well, I’m holding the love of my life in my arms after he saved the world. I’m doing pretty well.”

Allen flushed, fidgeting with Lavi’s shirt, “What about your eye?”

“Oh, this?” He tapped on his eyepatch, “It’s confusing to have it uncovered when it’s not like, life or death. Also did you see it? Seer eyes are creepy as shit once they’re awakened or whatever Cross said about it.”

“It was a little scary, but I didn’t see it that closely. I was kind of freaking out.”

“I’m glad I have it now though. It made me see… I saw that in every possible scenario, you jumped. Even in the situations where we failed, you still made that last ditch effort. It’s… well, you’re really something,” Lavi pulled Allen close, pressing his lips to the center of his forehead.

“I… I don’t know what to say to that…” Allen said.

“You don’t need to say anything. It’s just what I feel.”

“What do we do now?”

Lavi tilted his head a bit, looking at Allen and raising his eyebrows.

“With… us.”

Lavi thought about that, watching Allen chew his lip. Nerves fluttered in Allen’s stomach as Lavi hemmed and hawed for a moment.

“Well I’d love to make out with you, or maybe, y’know, more, but what I would like more than anything else is… for you to give it a shot. To see what happens. I know you’re nervous or uncomfortable with the soulmate thing. So let’s forget that and just… Be. I love you. I was already starting to love you before I saw my mark on your skin.” Lavi took Allen’s hand, turning his head to press his lips to the mark. It stood against Allen’s skin, stark white against the black.

Lavi looked at Allen, resting his cheek in Allen’s palm as he lowered his arm again. Allen swallowed thickly and leaned forward, pressing his lips against Lavi’s. The threw his arms around Lavi’s neck and threw himself into the kiss, letting his fear fly from his heart for now.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I can't believe this monster is finally done. Please comment with your thoughts! I would love to hear them.


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